On day one of competitions in the Rifle/Pistol World Cup, the two air rifle shooters eased into the women's 10m finals with solid scores, making it their fifth ISSF final in less than two years, including the World Championship last year.
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.
This is Rai's second medal having claimed the top prize in 10m air pistol mixed event with Heena Sidhu on Monday.
A poor transition from prone to the standing series cost Sanjeev Rajput dear as he finished fifth in the 50 metres rifle 3 positions event.
Ace pistol shooter Manu Bhaker will lead a 35-member Indian team in the season-opening ISSF World Cups in April in South America.
The Commonwealth Games champion failed to make it to the 50m Free Pistol final.
The Indian marksman paid the price for a poor score in the fifth and last detail, in the Shotgun event.
Then the air rifle women's team consisting of Arya Borse, Zeena Khitta and Ramita downed the Korean trio of Yeeun AN, Eunji Kwon and Jeongin Jang 17-9 in the title decider to give India the third gold of the day.
Indian shooters ended their campaign at the International Shooting Sport Federation Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany, at a creditable fourth position, finishing with three gold, four silver and three bronze.
Indian shooter Apurvi Chandela has qualified for next year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro after clinching a 10m air rifle bronze in the ISSF World Cup (Rifle/Pistol) in Changwon, Korea.
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.
The shooting World Cup scheduled to be held in two parts in New Delhi in May was on Monday cancelled owing to the coronavirus pandemic. The World Cup, originally scheduled to be held from March 15-26, was postponed to May barely four days before the start of the event.
Bhanwala dedicated the medal to his personal coach Harpreet Singh.
Why India can't deny Pakistan entry to multi-lateral events on its soil
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.
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.
This was announced by the ISSF president Vladimir Lisin during his address to the season-opening World Cup at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range.
A reputed national coach has been accused of tampering with rifles of some shooters by their parents, a charge that has been vehemently denied by the national federation, which has urged the aggrieved individuals to file a complaint.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday
India registered a no-medal day for the first time in the tournament. Even though Rhythm topped qualification with her 595, teammates Esha Singh and Manu shot 582 and 578 respectively to finish at 13th and 27th positions.
In the men's 10m air rifle final, India's Himanshu, who had topped qualification with 633.7, kept his form intact to clinch gold with a superb 250.9. Individual Neutral Athlete Dmitrii Pimenov followed with 249.9 for silver, while India's Abhinav Shaw claimed bronze with 228.4.
Manu Bhaker is currently training in Croatia along with other members of the Olympic-bound Indian team
Sandeep Singh, who had topped the national trials in 10m air rifle, narrowly missed qualification after finishing ninth with a score of 631.4.
Anish posted 35 hits out of 40 in the final
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.
Bhaker beat a two-time World Cup Finals winner and the host country's Alejandra Zavala, with a 10.8 in the last shot of the 24 shot final, to come out on top with a score of 237.5.
'To win the Olympic gold medal, I have been really working really hard for the past five years now, and it has always been my dream.'
The team will be accompanied by six coaches -- Deepali Deshpande, Samaresh Jung, Manoj Kumar, DS Chandel, Ronak Pandit and Ved Prakash -- and two physios.
The teenager could be the youngest ever to win senior World Cup gold medals for India though the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) could not confirm.
Parinaz Dhailwal shot 64 to lie in 44th spot, while Areeba Khan was further down in 58th, having shot a 59.
Bhaker said that her break from the shooting after Olympics was pre-decided by her and her coach Jaspal Rana.
The new deadline for Tokyo 2020 Qualification in shooting is June 6, 2021, according to the ISSF.
The Indian trio of Zoravar Singh Sandhu, Kynan Chenai and Birendeep Sodhi could not make it through to the six-man final round of the competition, failing in the qualification round.
Narmada Nithin Raju claimed the gold medal in the women's 10m air rifle with a new national record score of 254.4.
The NRAI has sent the names of champion pistol shooters Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma for the prestigious Arjuna Award, according to federation sources.
Champion double-trap shooter and Asian Games gold medallist Ronjan Sodhi is the only Indian marksman to occupy the top spot in the latest ISSF world rankings.
Rhythm Sangwan and Anish Bhanwala won the gold medal in the 25m rapid fire pistol mixed team event
Gold rush continues for India but 16th Olympic quota eludes hosts.
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.
Indian trap shooters Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Kynan Chenai got off to positive starts on day one of competition at the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup at Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil.
