The National Rifle Association of India on Saturday announced the rifle and pistol squad for the upcoming World Championships in August in Baku, Azerbaijan and the Hangzhou Asian Games in China the month after.
A 22-member rifle and pistol squad will travel to Baku to vie for as many as 32 Paris Olympic quota places up for grabs there while a 21-member squad will make the trip to Hangzhou.
Reigning Men’s 10m Air Rifle World Champion Rudrankksh Patil has been included in the Asian Games squad on the basis of the selection criteria for Paris quota winners.
Ashi Chouksey replaced Tilottama Sen in the women’s air rifle squad in Hangzhou. She will be shooting both the women’s rifle events – 10 m air rifle and 50m 3-Position – given that none of the top three air rifle shooters shot in the three positions (3P) event. The Asian Games allows for only five entries each in Men’s and Women’s Rifle events. Chouksey got the nod as the highest ranked Air Rifle shooter in the Women’s 3P squad.
The rest of the selection followed the rankings post the National Selection Trials 5 & 6 for Group A Rifle and Pistol shooters which concluded at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi on Friday.
Squad for Asian Games
Men’s air rifle: Divyansh Singh Panwar, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Rudrankksh Patil
Women’s air rifle: Ramita, Mehuli Ghosh, Ashi Chouksey
Men’s 50m rifle 3-position: Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Swapnil Kusale, Akhil Sheoran
Women’s 50m rifle 3-position: Sift Kaur Samra, Ashi Chouksey, Manini Kaushik
Men’s air pistol: Sarabjot Singh, Shiva Narwal, Arjun Singh Cheema
Women’s air pistol: Divya TS, Esha Singh, Palak
Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol: Anish, Vijayveer Sidhu, Adarsh Singh
Women’s 25m sports pistol: Rhythm Sangwan, Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh
Air rifle mixed team: Divyansh Singh Panwar/Ramita; Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar/Mehuli Ghosh
Air pistol mixed team: Sarabjot Singh/Divya TS; Shiva Narwal/Esha Singh
Squad for World Championships
Men’s air rifle: Divyansh Singh Panwar, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Hriday Hazarika
Women’s air rifle: Ramita, Mehuli Ghosh, Tilottama Sen
Men’s 50m rifle 3-position: Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Akhil Sheoran, Niraj Kumar
Women’s 50m rifle 3-position: Sift Kaur Samra, Ashi Chouksey, Manini Kaushik
Men’s air pistol: Sarabjot Singh, Shiva Narwal, Arjun Singh Cheema
Women’s air pistol: Divya TS, Esha Singh, Palak
Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol: Anish, Vijayveer Sidhu, Adarsh Singh
Women’s 25m sports pistol: Rhythm Sangwan, Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh
Air rifle mixed team: Divyansh Singh Panwar/Ramita; Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar/Mehuli Ghosh
Air pistol mixed team: Sarabjot Singh/Divya TS; Shiva Narwal/Esha Singh
