But new faces, such as world champion 10m air rifle shooter Rudrankksh Patil, Esha Singh (10m air pistol), Sift Kaur Samra and Ashi Chouksey (50m rifle 3-positions) are some of the brightest prospects in the team with a potential to aim for gold, notwithstanding the extremely tough challenge the Chinese will pose in the coming fortnight.
India's squash ace Dipika Pallikal will be in action against the formidable Nicol David in the semi-final round on Monday, the third day of the Asian Games.
One of India's strongest Olympic medal hopes, ace shooter Manu Bhaker feels preparations 'cannot get better' than the ongoing training-cum-competition tour of Croatia as she works on her consistency ahead of the Tokyo Games.
The more experienced Heena Sidhu suffered a similar fate, as she was placed 25th with 571.
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.
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.
Indian pistol ace Manu Bhaker says she will continue to shoot in three events, including the 25m, despite enduring a hat-trick of heartbreaks in her Olympics campaign in Tokyo.
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Ronak Pandit has been the force behind the gold winner.
Jitu Rai pipped three-time Olympic champion Jongoh Jin of Korea to clinch the silver medal at the ISSF Shooting World Cup, in Baku, on Saturday.
Heena Sidhu gave India its third gold medal in shooting at the ongoing Commonwealth Games, leaving a host of seasoned campaigners in the shade in the women's 25 metres pistol event on Tuesday.
'I would say you have to give six months to a year to give the athletes to kind of even register that person is going (to the Olympics). People are struggling to find their kit. So, things could have been better.'
Anish posted 35 hits out of 40 in the final
Images from Day 2 of the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.
Apart from archery, the Indians also bagged two medals in shooting.
Shooter Vijay Kumar had a stuttering start to his Olympic campaign, failing to qualify for the men's 10m Air Pistol final after finishing a lowly 31st, on Saturday. Vijay tallied 570 after a sequence of 94, 95, 94, 97, 97, 93 at the Royal Artillery Barracks, where 44 shooters competed for the top eight places.
Indian shooters' gold rush continued in the Asia Olympic Qualifiers with Yogesh Singh winning the top prize in individual as well as team event of the men's 25m centre fire pistol competition in Jakarta on Monday.
Continuing with their blazing form, Indian shooters had a rich haul of five gold, three silver and one bronze medal on the sixth day in the 11th South Asian Games on Wednesday.
She won the gold medal in 25m Pistol National Championship for Women in the 49th National Shooting Championship.
Heena shot a near-perfect 10.8 with just three shooters left in the field but a 9.6 in the next attempt dashed her hopes of a better finish at the Jakabaring Shooting Range.
Reports said Saroj's husband acted violently following her gold medal win at the Commonwealth Games.
India's ace shooter Manu Bhaker on Tuesday received her first dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a government hospital in Jhajjar, Haryana, three months before the Tokyo Olympics where she will enter as one of India's brightest medal hopes.
The 21-year-old from Karnal, who had 28 hits in the final, lost a shoot out to Japan's Dai Yoshioka, who won the silver medal.
Anissa Sayeed of Haryana outclassed strong rivals Rahi Sarnobat of Maharashtra and Annuraj Singh of Air India to clinch the women's 25m Sports Pistol gold in the 55th National Shooting Championships, in Pune on Monday.
Vijayveer Sidhu picked up his third gold medal of the ongoing ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany, combining with Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu and Adarsh Singh to clinch the men's 25m pistol event.
Indian shooters ruled the roost for the fourth successive day as they made a clean sweep of all the six gold medals on offer in the 12th South Asian Games, in Guwahati, on Saturday.
India closed their campaign on the fourth day of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Cup winning a team bronze medal in the 25m pistol women's event in Suhl, Germany, on Wednesday.
Singh shot a score of 587 (291 in precision and 296 in rapid) in the individual competition to grab the gold ahead of American Henry Leverett (584) and Korean Lee Jaekyoon (582).
Trap shooter Manavjit Singh Sandhu got the nod ahead of Sanjeev Rajput as the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) announced its final shooting squad of 12 for the Rio Olympic Games in New Delhi on Saturday.
Navy marksman Harpreet Singh pipped army's Vijay Kumar 28-27 to bag gold medal in the men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event at the 55th National Shooting Championships at the Balewadi Ranges, in Pune, on Thursday.
Flag bearer Tek Chand will lead the Indian contingent -- India will be represented by 54 para athletes, the biggest ever contingent in the history of the Games.
It was mixed day for Indian shooters at the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup as Olympic medallists Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang failed to qualify for the final round of the men's 10m Air Rifle event, while Jitu Rai progressed to the qualification round in 50m Pistol on the opening day at Fort Benning, United States on Thursday.
India's Gagan Narang and Chain Singh will be vying for a spot in the finals of the men's 50m Rifle Prone event after coming through unscathed in the elimination rounds on day six of the ISSF World Cup in Rio de Janeiro.
Olympic bronze-medallist Gagan Narang won a silver medal in the men's 50m rifle prone event of the Commonwealth Shooting Championships in Brisbane.
Aishwary Pratap Singh clinched a comfortable win over Alexander Schmirl to clinch gold at the ongoing ISSF World Cup in Cairo.
A day before the Tokyo-bound Indian shooting contingent hits the range for its first training session in Croatia, Manu Bhaker's pistol will give way to a pen and the shooting gear to her study materials, as she logs in for her BA fourth semester exam.
Among other Indians in the field, Sanskar Havelia was 11th with a score of 1160, Pankaj Mukheja 15th with 1157, Sartaj Tiwana 16th with 1157 and Gurman Singh finished 22nd with a score of 1153.
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.
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