Esha Singh won gold in the women's 25m pistol final at the ISSF World Cup in Munich, setting a new world record score of 43. This is India's first medal at the Munich World Cup.
Suruchi Singh claims No. 1 spot in ISSF women's 10m air pistol rankings
Participating in the continental tournament as guest invitee, the Indians only shot in the MQS section, and hence, their scores were not considered for medals.
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.
Two-time medallist Elavenil Valarivan will fancy her chances on the first competition day of ISSF World Cup in Munich on Tuesday
Talented shooter Suruchi Singh came up with yet another commanding performance to clinch the women's 10m air pistol gold in the ISSF World Cup Final in Doha.
'I would like to dedicate this win to my parents and thank Gagan Sir and my coaches at GFG who have been working continuously behind me to make a shooter capable of winning titles at the world stage'
India opened their account at the ISSF World Cup with the trio of Elavenil Valarivan, Ramita and Shreya Agrawal claiming the gold medal in the 10m air rifle team women competition in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Olympian Gurpreet Singh came agonisingly close to becoming the world champion in men's 25m Centre Fire Pistol event but eventually got a silver after losing on inner 10s to Ukraine's Pavlo Korostylov at the Olympic Shooting Range in Cairo.
The 20-year-old's top prize, however, did not translate into an Olympic quota for India as Apurvi Chandela and Anjum Moudgil have already secured the maximum two berths available per country in last year's World Championships.
Ramita Jindal gave a strong display of marksmanship to qualify for the women's 10m air rifle final in fifth place at the Paris Olympics.
India's Anish Bhanwala endured two nerve-wracking shoot-offs in a high-quality 25m rapid-fire pistol final to clinch the biggest medal in his shooting career, a silver at the ISSF World Championships (Pistol/Rifle), in Cairo on Sunday.
Arya Borse and Arjun Babuta dished out a thoroughly dominant performance and outplayed China's reigning Olympic and World champion duo Zifei Wang and Lihao Sheng 17-7 to win the gold medal in the 10m air rifle mixed team event of the ISSF World Cup.
Bhaker shot 244.7 to claim the top prize in the prestigious season-ending tournament
The duo of Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar finished 12th with a total of 626.5 across three series each, while Anjum Moudgil and Deepak Kumar ended 18th out of 29 pairs with an aggregate score of 623.8 at the Asaka Range.
The national shooting federation NRAI chose current form over pedigree to pick the squad for the mega event and it will be hoping they hit the bullseye at the National Shooting Centre in Chateauroux.
Sandeep Singh, who had topped the national trials in 10m air rifle, narrowly missed qualification after finishing ninth with a score of 631.4.
World No 1 Elavenil Valarivan was on Sunday included in a 15-member Indian shooting contingent for the Tokyo Olympics at the expense of quota winner Chinki Yadav, who had claimed a gold in the Delhi World Cup last month.
'This was due to some issue over time slots as athletes from all competing nations train at the same venue'
Then, in the 10m air pistol mixed team competitions, India's top pair comprising Manu Bhaker and Chaudhary too came overall second among 43 pairs, shooting a combined score of 580 out of a possible 600.
Seasoned marksman Gagan Narang applauds the systematic selection process, government investment, and improved infrastructure for India's impressive haul of 15 shooting quota places for the Paris Olympics
On November 30, President Droupadi Murmu presented the Sports and Adventure Awards 2022.
A look at India's schedule at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, July 27, 2024:
Double Olympic bronze-medallist shooter Bhaker finished sixth in 25m pistol after entering the eight-shooter final placed fifth with an aggregate 'precision' and 'rapid fire' score of 588.
India has now picked up a dozen gold medals in the competition with four days remaining.
A look at India's schedule at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, July 28, 2024:
Rhythm Sangwan emerged victorious in the women's 25m pistol event at the Rifle/Pistol National Selection Trials in New Delhi, defeating double Olympic medalist Manu Bhaker in a shoot-off.
Munita Prajapati (Uttar Pradesh), daughter of a construction labourer, and 17-year-old Parvej Khan (Services) were the stars of the day, with Munita setting the first record of this edition in the Women's 20km walk. She clocked a commendable 1 hour 38 minutes 20 seconds.
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.
Olympian Manu Bhaker displayed complete dominance in 10m air pistol Olympic Selection Trials (OST), shooting a superb score to overcome the challenge of Asian Games medallist Esha Singh in Bhopal 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.
The IOA was ready to make a presentation to the 2026 organisers to explain to them how including those two disciplines could 'increase the stature of the event'
Check out the Indian athletes' schedule at the Games on Tuesday, July 27.
Meanwhile, teammate Udhayveer Sidhu also made it to the ranking matches but finished fourth to be eliminated. He was seventh in qualification with a score of 569.
Elavanil finished 16th while the more experienced Apurvi settled for the 36th place
Indian shooters eliminated in qualification of 10m air rifle mixed event
Umesh Choudhary was penalised two points for 'reporting late' to the preparation arena ahead of the 10m finals, which cost him the gold medal in the eight-shooter final.
India have won 12 out of 14 gold medals so far
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.
