Games over, Indian shooters eye Olympic berths
NEW DELHI: After winning nine medals at the Asian Games, Indian shooters reached the South Korean city of Changwon for the 52nd ISSF World Championships that starts on Friday. The competition has 60 quota places for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Jaspal Rana, multiple Asian Games medallist and India pistol coach, believes bagging Olympic quotas early is a big advantage as it increases preparation time.
Barring Saurabh Chaudhary, who won gold in the men’s 10m air pistol, almost all the Asian Games medal winners will be in Changwon. Chaudhary didn’t qualify but in his absence, youngsters such as Manu Bhaker, Anish Bhanwala in pistol and rifle shooter Mehuli Ghosh will be the major attractions.
For Bhaker, a teenage pistol shooter from Haryana who did well in the preliminary round of the Asian Games but fumbled in the final, the world championships is a new chapter.
Not only was Bhaker under pressure at the Asian Games, her inclusion in the 10m air pistol mixed team was disapproved by a senior shooter, according to a source in the India team. Such a controversy, however, will not arise in Changwon as each nation is allowed to field two teams in the mixed competition.
The mixed team competition, the first medal event, has four quota places. The focus will be on Heena Sidhu who will pair with Shahzar Rizvi in the 10m air pistol. Since Sidhu’s coach and husband Ronak Pandit is also overseeing Rizvi’s training, it will be interesting to see how they combine. The second team has Bhaker and Abhishek Verma.
Sidhu and Bhaker will also compete in individual 10m air pistol and 25m sports pistol events.
In the 10m air rifle, Deepak Kumar will pair with Ghosh. Ravi Kumarandapurvichandelawill be the other pair. In mixed trap, Shreyashi Singh will combine with Lakshya Sheoran while Manavjit Singh Sandhu will team with Seema Tomar.
A good beginning will set the tone for individual events.
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