However, with the Munich World Cup being cancelled, sources close to the NRAI said the sport's apex body in India is also under pressure to follow suit, considering the uncertainty arising out of the unprecedented health crisis.
Swimmer Maana Patel registers Best Indian Time
Former world number one Heena Sidhu missed out on qualifying for the final of women's 10-metre air pistol event by just one point on the concluding day of the ISSF World Cup in Munich on Wednesday. At the Olympic Shooting Centre, Heena finished 12th out of 104 shooters in the eventual standings but would have been pleased at having shot a higher score than 384 ahead of the all-important Rio Olympics. The eighth finalist from Serbia, who eventually won the gold, made it through with a score of 385 and had less inner 10s than Heena. Shweta Singh and Shri Nivetha Paramanantham, the other Indians in the event shot 378 and 377 to finish 47th and 52nd respectively. Serbia's Bobana Velickovic won the gold in the event, while Sonia Franquet of Spain bagged the silver and China's Mengxue Zhang won the bronze medal.
Asian Games gold medallist Jitu Rai has been recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award for his exploits in pistol shooting in the last two years although he couldn't win a medal in the Rio Olympics. "Yes, we have recommended Jitu's name for Khel Ratna award," National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) secretary Rajiv Bhatia said. NRAI has also recommended woman rifle shooter Apurvi Chanela and men rifle shooters Gurpreet Singh and PN Prakash for the Arjuna Awards, according to Bhatia.
'Saurabh is my room partner from Asian Games and now also. We learn from each other and we both share our shooting experience with each other. We both try to give our best every time'
India's Prakash Nanjappa has earned a quota place for the 2016 Rio Olympics after finishing eighth in the finals of 50-metre men's pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Gabala, Azerbaijan.
Woman shooter Heena Sidhu created history by becoming the first pistol exponent from India to win a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup finals in Munich, Germany.
Pournima Zanane had been suffering from cancer for the past two years and also underwent extensive treatment for the same.
A source said two among the three shooters are from the Indian contingent.
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's teenage shooting stars Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary smashed the qualification World record before clinching the 10 metres air pistol mixed team gold in the 12th Asian Airgun Championship in Taoyuan, Taipei, on Wednesday.
India topped the medals tally ahead of hosts China (2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze), who won five medals in total.
India were placed at the top of the medals tally with two gold, one silver and a bronze.
Saurabh, who holds the junior world record, smashed the senior record on his way to the men's 10m air pistol gold with at the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi.
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.
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.
Hima Das is the first top track and field athlete to have received the vaccine.
The world record set by Heena Sidhu-Pandit, who became the first Indian pistol shooter to bag an ISSF-World Cup Finals gold last November, has been ratified by the world shooting body.
Team India's Jasprit Bumrah, India women's cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur and shooter Heena Sindhu have exceeded expectations to make the cut.
Least affected by the recent controversies around her, India's pistol ace Heena Sidhu's primary target is the World Championship
The more experienced Heena Sidhu suffered a similar fate, as she was placed 25th with 571.
A dominant India claimed both the gold medals on offer by some distance in the men's and women's 10m air pistol team events on the third competition day of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun stage, in New Delhi, on Sunday.
Raninder Singh was on Saturday re-elected unopposed as president of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) for a four-year term.
It was business as usual for India's top shooters Monday as they competed in the Olympic team selection trials in New Delhi at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has brought daily life to a grinding halt around much of the world. As the world around them battled the coronavirus pandemic, the sound of shots fired from their guns, rifles and their pistols reverberated across the Karni Singh Shooting Range, tucked away in one corner of the national capital.
For someone who took to shooting just a little over two years ago, winning two gold medals at a global event of this magnitude would easily qualify as some achievement.
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.
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.
India's Prakash Nanjappa won a bronze medal in the men's 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup at Changwon, Korea on Saturday.
The participation of Indian athletes in Friday's Tokyo Olympic Games opening ceremony will be kept to a 'bare minimum' in view of the COVID-19 threat, while only six officials from the contingent will be allowed to take part in the event.
Indian shooter Ravi Kumar won the bronze medal in the men's 10m air rifle event at the 21st Commonwealth Games, in Gold Coast, on Sunday.
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.
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.
Olympics-bound Bengal shooter Joydeep Karmakar hopes that former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly comes to London to cheer him and his fellow shooters during the mega-event.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Ankur Mittal added to the Indian shooting contingent's medal rush by winning a bronze in the men's double trap event of the 21st Commonwealth Games, in Brisbane, on Wednesday.
The Indian pair shot a total of 483.5 to finish on top of the podium at the ISSF World Cup.
'Sport is cruel, as is life, which is why winning becomes sweet.'
Pakistani shooters were not allowed to participate in the ISSF event in Delhi.
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