Shooters get another shot to book Rio berths
Fresh from a rich medal-haul at the International Shooting Competition of Hannover, the Indian 10m air rifle trio of Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang and Chain Singh will be keen to repeat the performance and book Olympic berths when the season’s second rifle/pistol World Cup gets underway at Fort Benning, USA, on Wednesday.
Bindra & Co. warmed up for the World Cup in style last week, with the Beijing Olympics gold medallist clinching the gold medal at Hannover in his pet event. More importantly, Bindra looked in good touch, shooting a total of 628 in the qualifying round followed by a high score of 208.1 in the final. It was a major improvement from his performance at the Changwon World Cup a little over month ago, where Bindra had shot a dismal score of 619.8 points to be placed 44th. He then teamed up with Narang and Chain to win the team gold as well, while Chain also added the 50m men’s rifle prone gold to his kitty. Another shooter who will be keen to make amends in the 10m air rifle category is Sanjeev Rajput, who too had a disappointing start to the season.
The Indian shooters — rifle/pistol and shotgun — have had a forgettable start to the season. Apart from Manavjit Singh Sandhu, who won a bronze, none of the other marksmen have come close to winning a medal in the three shotgun World Cups so far, while the rifle and pistol contingent returned with just two medals in the season’s opening World Cup in Changwon. India has won just two quota places so far, one by Jitu Rai in 50m pistol with Apurvi Chandela winning the other by booking the second spot in the 10m air rifle event last month.
Quota places are also on offer in women’s 25m pistol event on Wednesday, with Anisa Sayyed, Annu Raj Singh and Rahi Sarnobat in the fray. However, India will pin its hopes once again on Jitu Rai, who will be seen in 50m pistol.
A bronze medallist at the Changwon World Cup in 10m air pistol, Rai will try to win his — and the country’s — first gold of the season in the same event or in 50m pistol. Rai, 27, ranks third and second in the two events respectively. While the air pistol event is scheduled later in the week, the preliminary round of the 50m pistol will be held on Wednesday with the finals slated for Thursday. Prakash Nanjappa and Om Prakash are the other two shooters in contention in the 50m pistol event.
