World Championship silver medallist Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar delivered a landmark performance at the 68th Shooting Nationals on Tuesday, firing a World record 470.5 to clinch gold in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions final at the Madhya Pradesh State Shooting Range.
India's Bhavtegh Singh Gill remained in contention for a finals berth at the ISSF World Championship for Shotgun after completing the second day of men's skeet qualification with a total of 97 hits in Athens on Saturday.
The Nicosia tournament, follows two back-to-back combined (Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun) ISSF World Cups, the first two of the year, in Argentina and Peru respectively that will be held in April.
Paris Olympics quota winner Naruka overcame an opening round 22 to return with two perfect rounds of 25 each to finish just three off the leader and will hope to make it to the top-six on Thursday.
Double Olympic-medallist Manu Bhaker opted for a three-month rest following her exploits at the Paris Games.
Veteran shooter Mairaj Ahmad Khan and young Ganemat Sekhon won gold in the skeet mixed team event, giving India its first medal at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup, in Cairo, on Sunday.
Young Raiza Dhillon, who had secured a Paris Olympics quota for India, partnered with Gurjoat Khangura to clinch a bronze in the skeet mixed team event and pick up her third medal of the Asia Olympic Qualification Shotgun competition in Kuwait City on Sunday.
In a year marred by disappointments, shooter Akhil Sheoran redeemed himself by winning the men's 50m rifle 3-positions bronze medal even as the other Indian participants failed to make a mark in the ISSF World Cup Final in New Delhi on Wednesday.
In men's skeet, all shooters were unable to complete three rounds and Mairaj Ahmad Khan was one of them. He was lying 12th among contenders while still having 19 shots of his third round left.
Two-time Olympian and India's shining light in skeet shooting Mairaj Ahmad Khan won the country's and his first-ever individual gold in the event, shooting 37 hits out of a possible 40 in the final at the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Korea.
Sift races ahead on road to Paris
On Friday, the Indian shooting contingent for Tokyo 2020 reached Amsterdam from their Zagreb base in Croatia. Saurabh Choudhary, Abhishek Verma, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, and Anjum Moudgil headline India's shooting squad.
The Indian duo edged the Chinese pair of Liu Jiangchi and Gao Jianmei 28-27 in the gold-medal match.
The National Rifle Association of India has postponed the compulsory training camp for its Olympic core group planned in New Delhi from Saturday after taking into the account the situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Thursday, a shooting coach at the camp's venue -- Dr. Karni Singh Range -- tested positive for COVID-19 but the development will not force a closure of the facility.
The gold rush continued for Indian shooters at the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi as Ganemat Sekhon and Angad Vir Singh Bajwa claimed the skeet mixed team top honours on the fifth competition day on Tuesday.
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.
Skeet shooter Man Singh, on Wednesday, equalled the Asian record en route to winning the gold medal in the Asian Shotgun Championship in Kuala Lumpur.
It turned out to be a disappointing day for Indian shooters with the pair of Tejaswini Sawant and Meena Kumari missing out on a gold by just one point to settle for a bronze in the 19th Commonwealth Games in New Delhi on Monday.
Indian shooters will have a tough task at hand to finish on the podium after all three of them ended day one of the qualification round at the middle of the points table in the Asian Games.
Ace shooters Jitu Rai, Sanjeev Rajput and Mairaj Ahmad Khan will represent India at the season ending ISSF World Cup Finals to be held in the cities of Bologna and Rome in Italy next month. The rifle and pistol events will be held in Bologna from October 4-10 and the shotgun event is scheduled to be held in Rome from October 10-16.
"Health and safety of Shooters/Coaches was paramount in the review of the decision. NRAI will announce a new schedule at a later date."
Sharath Kamal's progress to the third round of the men's singles in table tennis was the only bright spot on another gloomy day for India at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday.
India's teenage shooting sensations extended their dominance in the ongoing ISSF World Cup in New Delhi on Monday, winning the mixed team gold medals in both the 10m air pistol and 10m air rifle events to continue their stupendous run of form in the run-up to this year's Olympics.
India shooter Gurpreet Singh failed to make the final of men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol after finishing seventh in the qualification round at the Rio Games.
'Best quality ammunitions for our top shooters will be made available at their doorsteps wherever they are practicing.'
The Cairo World Cup assumes additional significance given that this will be the final chance for the shooters to qualify for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics
Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar bagged India's 13th Olympic quota in shooting with a bronze medal in men's 50m rifle 3 positions at the 14th Asian Championship.
Naveen Boora in medal rounds of Strandja Memorial tourney
The onus will be on Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini Singh Deswal in women's 10m air pistol, and the men's 10m air rifle duo of Divyansh Singh Panwar and Deepak Kumar to bring India success on the second day of shooting event at Tokyo Olympics on Saturday.
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.
Shivpal Singh, who booked his Tokyo ticket at a meet in South Africa on Tuesday, says athletes are trained to get over setbacks but missing out on the Olympics would be on another level.
Ace shooter Sanjeev Rajput clinched the silver medal in the men's 50-metre rifle 3 position event at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, Ajerbaijan, on Tuesday. The Indian marksman scored 456.9 to win the silver medal in the last World Cup before the Rio Olympic Games.
A summary of Indian athletes' showing atthe Olympic Games in Tokyo on Sunday.
The Indian shooters will begin training at the venue from July 19, having got their rooms allotted at the games village after arriving in Tokyo in the wee hours of Saturday.
Elavenil Valarivan and Anish Bhanwala, two of India's finest young shooters, were on Friday named in a 34-member core group for the Tokyo Olympics. The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) released the list of shooters who will be training separately for the quadrennial sporting extravaganza, scheduled to be held next summer after the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the Games back by a year.
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.
Sheikh, who is very optimistic of the industry sailing though this tough phase, thanked Mohit Arora, the owner of Supertech, who has been sponsoring him since 2017.
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.
All of the 15 shooters are capable of winning medals, but few are seen as sure shot to secure podium finishes
India's report card on the eigth day of the 2016 Olympics.