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.
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".
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
'There is a total stop on everything. Of course, production and export has taken a hit due to the bad situation in Europe'
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.
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 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 CGF chief is also expected to meet Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju.
The ace markswoman is preparing in right earnest to hit the bull's eye in the 10-metre air rifle event at the Athens Games.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
The National Rifle Association of India has barred all state association officials, who sided with Abhay Singh Chautala's faction in the last IOA elections, from voting in its April 6 polls on the directive of ISSF and the International Olympic Committee.
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.
World rapid champion Viswanathan Anand came up with a fine performance to be placed tied second in the blitz tournament of the Altibox Norway chess tournament, in Stavanger.
Raninder Singh was on Saturday re-elected unopposed as president of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) for a four-year term.
Olympian Heena Sidhu produced a creditable performance but that was not good enough to help the Indian win a medal in the Women's 10-meter Air Pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Munich.
India's pistol shooters competing in the ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning, USA, will be without the services of coach Sayed Wajid Ali, as he has been denied a visa to travel for the May 4-13 tournament. The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) said the US embassy is yet to give a reason for denying the government core-group coach visa.
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.
Rahi Sarnobat, who created history recently in South Korea by becoming the first male or female pistol shooter from India to win a gold medal in an ISSF World Cup says she generally does well once she enters the finals.
London Olympics silver medallist Vijay Kumar could not live up to the billing as he failed to qualify for the finals of the 25-metre rapid fire pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Korea on Monday.
In 2014, Bindra was elected chairman of the International Shooting Sport Federation's (ISSF) Athletes Committee, becoming the first Indian to receive the honour.
Inside the shooting range, his confidence rivals a seasoned campaigner but the moment Anish Bhanwala steps out of it, he becomes the average 15-year-old worried about his maths exam. It's just that he now happens to be India's youngest Commonwealth Games gold-medallist.
Manu Bhaker ignored for Rashtriya Bal Puraskar award, her father fumes.
Vijay Kumar, Heena Sidhu, Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Ronjon Sodhi are some of the shooting stars who will fancy their chances when Delhi hosts the final Asia Olympic Qualifying Competition, where 35 tickets to Rio will be up for grabs from January 25 to February 3.
Ace Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra said adjusting to the newly introduced rules will remain a priority for him in the 2013 season.
Vijayveer Sidhu, 16, shot a gold in the 25m standard pistol event for junior men after combining with Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu and Adarsh Singh to claim the team gold on the last day of the ISSF World Championships.
The 32-year-old Narang topped the list with 971 points ahead of Shengbo Zhao of China, who has 896 points.
Shooting's international federation (ISSF) has also confirmed complete support to India for hosting the proposed Commonwealth championships.
The national championship silver and junior world championship bronze-medallist, however, could not replicate her qualification form in the final, only managing a sixth-place finish with a score of 116.
Shooters Suma Shirur and Deepali Deshpande are unhappy over the sport being left out of the 2022 Commonwealth Games
The NRAI will send a protest letter to various sports bodies after Indian shooters, competing in the ISSF Shooting World Cup in London, were forced to spend a night at the hotel lobby due to the organising committee's irresponsible behaviour.
India's ace shooter Gagan Narang is hoping to be third time lucky at the London Olympics after two unsuccessful attempts in Athens and Beijing.
