New Delhi: Manu Bhaker won’t be around but nine other shooters who represented India at Paris Olympics will compete in the ISSF World Cup Final that will be at the Capital’s Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range from October 13 to 18.
After winning two medals at Paris 2024, Bhaker has skipped the season-ending event to go on a three-month break and was expectedly not named in the 23-member squad named by the National Rifle Association of India on Thursday.
Though without Bhaker, the Indian team has 11 Olympians who will be competing to be the year’s best shooters world’s best in 12 individual Olympic events across rifle, pistol and shotgun categories.
India won three bronze medals with the 22-year-old Bhaker claiming two of them in the women’s 10m air pistol and 10m air pistol mixed team event (partnering Sarabjot Singh).
Being the hosts India will be keen to continue claiming podium finished. NRAI expects India to put up a strong show, riding on the high of Paris.
“We have a strong squad of proven performers for the ISSF year-ender and look forward to a strong performance. Expectations from the sport have reached sky-high after the Paris performance…,” said NRAI secretary general Sultan Singh said, as quoted by PTI.
NRAI selected four shooters – Divyansh Singh Panwar (men’s 10m air rifle), Sonam Uttam Maskar (women’s 10m air rifle), Rhythm (women’s 10m air pistol & 25m pistol) and Ganemat Sekhon (women’s skeet) directly while using Olympic trials rankings to select the rest of the squad.
Rhythm will be the only shooter who would be competing in two events – battling solo in the women’s 25m sports pistol category and pair up with Surbhi Rao in the 10m air pistol competition.
Apart from the 20-year-old Rhythm the squad has Arjun Babuta (men’s 10m air rifle), Arjun Singh Cheema (men’s 10m air pistol), Anish and Vijayveer Sidhu (men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol), Shreyasi Singh and Rajeshwari Kumari (women’s trap), Maheshwari Chauhan (women’s skeet) and Anant Jeet Singh Naruka (men’s skeet) from the Paris Games team.
Experienced campaigners Mairaj Ahmed Khan (men’s skeet) and Chain Singh (men’s 50m rifle 3 positions) have been called back.
The Indian squad:
Air Rifle Men: Divyansh Singh Panwar, Arjun Babuta
Air Rifle Women: Sonam Uttam Maskar, Tilottama Sen
50M Rifle 3P Men: Chain Singh, Akhil Sheoran
50M Rifle 3P Women: Ashi Chouksey, Nischal
Air Pistol Men: Arjun Singh Cheema, Varun Tomar
Air Pistol Women: Rhythm Sangwan, Surbhi Rao
25M Rapid Fire Pistol Men: Anish, Vijayveer Sidhu
25M Sports Pistol Women: Rhythm Sangwan, Simranpreet Kaur Brar
Trap Men: Vivaan Kapoor, Bhowneesh Mendiratta
Trap Women: Rajeshwari Kumari, Shreyasi Singh
Skeet Men: Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Mairaj Ahmad Khan
Skeet Women: Ganemat Sekhon, Maheshwari Chauhan
After winning two medals at Paris 2024, Manu Bhaker has skipped the ISSF World Cup Final to go on a three-month break and was expectedly not named in the 23-member India squad Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
