Indian shooters faced a disappointing run at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Tangier, raising concerns about their Asian Games selection chances after subpar performances from both mixed team pairs.
Key Points
- Indian mixed team pairs performed poorly at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Tangier, failing to reach the finals.
- Prithviraj Tondaiman and Kirti Gupta finished 18th, while Kynan Chenai and Rajeshwari Kumari ended in 25th place.
- The shooters' performance could impact their selection for the upcoming Asian Games.
- The omission of experienced trap shooter Zoravar Singh from the squad remains a controversial decision.
- India's shooting squad faces pressure to improve before the Asian Games.
Indian shooters' disappointing run showed no signs of abating, as both mixed team pairs turned in sub-par performances to finish way down in the standings, capping a forgettable outing at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup here on Thursday.
Extending India's run of underwhelming results in the men's and women's skeet and trap events, the mixed doubles pair of Olympian Prithviraj Tondaiman and Kirti Gupta could only muster an aggregate of 134, slumping to a disappointing 18th place in a 33-team field.
Only the top four teams enter the finals.
Tondaiman scored 69 (24, 22, 23) in his three round of 25 each, totalling 75 while Gupta missed 10 clay targets to finish with 65 (22, 22, 21).
The other Indian pair, Olympians Kynan Chenai and Rajeshwari Kumari, also endured a below-par outing, combining for a modest 130 to finish 25st. Chenai shot 68 (25, 21, 22), while Rajeshwari managed 62 (18, 22, 22), in the season-opening World Cup -- an event whose scores carry significant weight for selection for the Asian Games in Japan later this year.
Asian Games Qualification Implications
With the next Shotgun World Cup scheduled in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in May, India have already announced their squad, and notably, none of the shooters from the current event have been retained.
The national squad's dismal showing at the Tangier World Cup could prove costly, potentially knocking several shooters out of Asian Games contention, while handing the next batch -- set to compete at the Almaty World Cup -- a crucial opportunity to stake their claim for a berth at the continental showpiece in Aichi-Nagoya this SeptemberOctober.
Controversy Surrounds Squad Selection
Amid the team's underwhelming showing here, the omission of the most experienced trap shooter, World Championships bronze medallist and world No. 4 Zoravar Singh -- cited as "workload management" -- remains a questionable decision.
Fresh from winning a World Championships bronze, Zoravar lived up to expectations by reaching the medal round, only to narrowly miss out on a podium finish.
Like virtually every high-performance athlete, he could not sustain peak form, enduring a dip at the National Championships and subsequent trials in Delhi and Bhopal, which led to him missing selection for the season's first two World Cups.
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