The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) selection committee is expected to meet on Sunday and announce the squad for the Tokyo Olympic Games in July-August.
In the 2019 Olympic qualification cycle, India won 15 Olympic quota places, including two in the men’s skeet event. The quota is for the country and not for shooters.
Almost all the quota winners had given a good account of themselves in the recently-concluded New Delhi World Cup held at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Ranges here.
This performance, however, might not be considered for the selection of shooters for the Olympics, said a national level coach.
“The NRAI has a separate selection policy for the Olympics. An average of five best scores in an international competition, starting with the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, will be taken into account. But it will depend on the selection panel whether it takes the New Delhi World Cup performance into account or not,” the coach associated with the national team told IANS.A
Last week, NRAI president Raninder Singh had said that two reserve shooters would be shortlisted for each of the disciplines India has won Olympic quota places in for the next preparatory camp.
The logic behind having extra shooters in the squad was to ensure that in case the leading shooters become indisposed, the first reserve would get a chance. Or, in extreme emergency, if the top two shooters are unwell the second reserve would get a chance to compete in the Olympics, scheduled to begin on July 23.
Saurabh Chaudhary, the 2018 Asian Games champion in 10 metres air pistol, and Abhishek Verma are the two prominent shooters who have won quota in the men’s 10m air pistol event.
List of shooters who have won quota places:
Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini Deswal (women 10m air pistol), Rahi Sarnobat and Chinki Yadav (women 25m pistol), Deepak Kumar and Divyansh Singh Panwar (men 10m air rifle), Anjum Moudgil and Apurvi Chandela (10m air rifle), Sanjeev Rajput and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (men 50m rifle 3 positions), Tejaswini Sawant (women 50m rifle 3 positions), Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Angadvir Singh Bajwa (skeet), Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma (men’s 10m air pistol event)