The novel coronavirus outbreak has prompted India to withdraw from next month's shooting World Cup in Cyprus, the National Rifles Association of India (NRAI) revealed on Friday.
Hitting the target with monotonous regularity, Indian shooters' dominance in a phenomenal 2019, at times, made world events look like domestic tourneys. Indian shooting's best show at the Olympics remains the two medals won at London in 2012, but if the shooters' exploits in recent months are anything to go by, the country can easily emulate or better that in Tokyo.
India's Mairaj Ahmad Khan finished 4th at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup Final in Rome on Thursday losing a shoot-off against Egypt's Azmy Mehelba in the skeet event.
For someone who took to shooting just a little over two years ago, winning two gold medals at a global event of this magnitude would easily qualify as some achievement.
Gold rush continues for India but 16th Olympic quota eludes hosts.
Batra felt that the level of competition at the CWG is not high and Indian athletes should be better served if they compete at better tournaments.
India's Prakash Nanjappa has earned a quota place for the 2016 Rio Olympics after finishing eighth in the finals of 50-metre men's pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Gabala, Azerbaijan.
Indian shooter Ravi Kumar won the bronze medal in the men's 10m air rifle event at the 21st Commonwealth Games, in Gold Coast, on Sunday.
Lakshaya and Kismat Chopra along with Manavaditya Singh Rathore on Thursday bagged the team bronze in the Men's Trap event as India ended their campaign at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Cup with a total of 24 medals to grab the second place in the overall standings. India finished with a total of nine gold, five silver and 10 bronze medals as the year's second and final Junior World Cup concluded in Gabala, Azerbaijan.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
The 16-year-old claimed the top honours in the men's 10m air pistol event at the season-opening ISSF World Cup.
26-year-old Anjum Moudgil has also been offering counselling sessions to her friends, some of whom are shooters, at a personal level.
Unlike some of India's top pistol shooters, Gagan Narang is not 'deeply saddened' but ready to embrace change in Olympic events.
P V Sindhu won the ESPN's 'Female Sportsperson of the Year' award while young shooter Saurabh Chaudhary bagged the honour in the male category.
Ankur Mittal added to the Indian shooting contingent's medal rush by winning a bronze in the men's double trap event of the 21st Commonwealth Games, in Brisbane, on Wednesday.
Confined to their homes owing to the coronavirus pandemic, India's top shooters will soon be provided with shooting range simulators -- SIUS Ascor's electronic target systems -- which will allow them to practice indoors efficiently. Work is already underway but it could still take a month's time for the equipment to be delivered to the shooters.
Pistol ace Manu Bhaker has got a new electronic target installed at the makeshift shooting range at her home in Haryana in place of an archaic manual machine that was breaking down frequently and hampering her Olympics preparation. The old machine was causing her "immense irritation".
Impressed with the performance of the Indian shooting contingent in Gold Coast, ace marksmen Jitu Rai is worried about the adverse effect that non-inclusion of the sport in the 2022 Birmingham Games will have on young talents.
Former Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra will lead the 25-member Indian shooting contingent in the third leg of the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup (Rifle/Pistol), to be held in Munich from May 19 to 26. The Indian team comprises of 17 shooters and eight officials. But with the Rio Games less than three months away, all eyes will be on those shooters, who are selected to represent India at the Olympics. Apart from Abhinav, other Indian shooters in the World Cup team who will also be heading to Rio include the likes of Jitu Rai, Gagan Narang, Chain Singh, Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika Paul, Gurpreet Singh, P N Prakash and Heena Sidhu.
There was some cheer for India after two barren days as the duo of Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu triumphed in the 10 metre mixed team air pistol event of the ISSF World Cup.
Manu Bhaker is grounded as she gears up for another test of her 16-year-old mind and body in next month's Asian Games.
The 10 Reds Asian Tour Snooker tournament was scheduled to be held in Bengaluru in the last week of March but has been postponed after the organisers failed to guarantee visas for Pakistani cueists.
NRAI said Indian government had given clearance for the applications, but that was before last Thursday's dastardly attack
India's junior shooting coach Jaspal Rana advised his wards, urging them to follow in the footsteps of Abhinav Bindra and not take things for granted.
The NRAI is also working on organising 'bilateral engagements for its Olympic squad' subject to approval of the government and the Sports Authority of India.
The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has received a request from the chief coaches in rifle, pistol and shotgun disciplines to organise a one-month camp for the Olympic core group to ensure better preparation.
An online shooting tournament, held in bedrooms and basements, brought some positivity and a smile on the face of a young national- level shooter undergoing treatment for cancer in a Kolkata hospital. From her hospital bed, the ailing markswoman joined the proceedings in the second international online shooting championship through Zoom App, and expressed her delight at being part of an initiative that also resulted in a virtual post-match press conference.
'There is a total stop on everything. Of course, production and export has taken a hit due to the bad situation in Europe'
After winning three medals in the ISSF World Cups in Munich and Slovenia recently, in-form Indian shooter Jitu Rai was eleveated to the world's number one ranking in the air pistol event. The 27-year-old armyman from Lucknow is the seventh Indian shooter to achieved the No 1 ranking.
The 22-year-old former junior world champion recorded 236.7 in the eight-women final of the season's fourth World Cup for pistol and rifle shooters.
India's 16-year-old shooting sensation Manu Bhaker comfortably won gold in the women's 10 metres air pistol event as Heena Sidhu staged a remarkable recovery to secure silver at the 21st Commonwealth Games, in Gold Coast, on Sunday.
Continuing his good run of form, pistol shooter Jitu Rai clinched a silver medal in the ISSF World Cup in Maribor, Slovenia, after Ayonika Paul bagged her maiden international medal as a senior shooter by settling for a bronze in the 10m air rifle event.
Indian shooter Manavjit Sandhu rallied to third place after the second day of qualification in the Men's Trap Shooting event at the ongoing International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup being held at Rio di Janerio's Olympic Shooting Centre.
The initiative by SAI is part of ongoingefforts of the government to help young athletes balance their sporting career and academics.
India's shooting ace Apurvi Chandela attained the World No 1 position in the women's 10m air rifle event while compatriot Anjum Moudgil rose to second.
The abundance of talent is complemented by a confident approach which the likes of Manu Bhaker, Mehuli Ghosh, Anish Bhanwala and Anjum Moudgil will display at the Games.
The CGF chief is also expected to meet Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
The war of words between the duo started after the 16-year-old athlete took to Twitter questioning Vij about the 2 crore cash reward, the latter had promised after she won a gold medal at the 2018 Youth Olympics at Argentina.
Manu Bhaker ignored for Rashtriya Bal Puraskar award, her father fumes.
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