All you need to know about the Olympics shooting team India: After an unpredictable delay caused by the pandemic, the Tokyo Games are scheduled to be held from July 23 to August 8 this year. On April 5, India released the list of its squad for the shooting events at the Olympics. While there are many expected faces who managed to secure a berth, there are some unexpected dropouts too.
Here are the women shooters who have found a place on India's team:
Elavenil Valarivan
Valarivan is the world’s No.1 in women’s 10m air rifle. Her consistent performance in the Olympic qualifying cycle (starting with the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games which was followed by World Championship same year, all four World Cups and Asian Championships in 2019 and selection trials stage 1 and 2 earlier this year) ensured that she secured a berth to compete in air rifle event at the Tokyo Olympics, a place which was first given to World Championship silver medallist Anjum Moudgil. After the course of the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup, her individual brilliance forced the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) to include her in the women's 10m air rifle team in place of Moudgil.
Anjum Moudgil
The Chandigarh rifle shooter Moudgil, who was the first Indian shooter along with Apurvi Chandela to earn quota for the Tokyo Games at the 2018 World Championships, has been given a chance to shoot in women's rifle 3 positions event along with the seasoned Tejaswini Sawant. The quota won by Chinki Yadav, who had claimed a gold at the Delhi World Cup last month, in the women's 25m pistol would be swapped in favour of Moudgil, to enable her to compete in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions event as India's second entry.
Moudgil, the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games silver-medallist, is getting ready to tackle the toughest women's 50 metres rifle 3 positions event starting on July 23. She aims to start her training on April 15 and will reportedly shift to Delhi to practice at Dr Karni Singh Shooting Ranges. She will also compete in the mixed air rifle team competition alongside Deepak Kumar. Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar have also paired for the same event.
Apurvi Chandela
A former World No.1 Chandela, who had won two World Cup gold medals in 2019, will compete only in the women's 10m air rifle individual competition. This will be her second Olympics appearance. She booked her berth for Tokyo after finishing fourth in the 2018 World Championships in Changwon, South Korea with a score of 207. The 28-year-old made her Olympic debut in Rio 2016.
Manu Bhaker
Bhaker, the youngest Indian to win a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup, will be shooting in both the women's 25m pistol alongside Rahi Sarnobat and in her favourite 10m air pistol event with Yashaswini Singh Deswal. The 19-year-old Commonwealth Games and Youth Olympics gold medallist pistol shooter will partner with Saurabh Chaudhary in the 10m air pistol mixed event. She will represent the country in three events.
She is one of the country’s biggest medal prospects at the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games.
Rahi Sarnobat
2019 ISSF World Champion Sarnobat had triumphed over Chinki Yadav and Manu Bhaker in the women's 25m pistol event at the National Shooting trials in New Delhi this year. She had missed out on the Rio Olympics as she was recovering from an injury back then. Five years on, 30-year-old Sarnobat has finally found a place in the Indian Olympic squad for the 25m Pistol event.
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