The National Rifle Association of India has announced a 20-member rifle and pistol squad, and a 12-member shotgun team for the Asian Olympic qualifiers scheduled to take place in January in Indonesia and Kuwait respectively.
A total of 16 Paris 2024 Olympic games quotas will be available in Jakarta, Indonesia, where the Asian Olympic Qualification Rifle and Pistol event is scheduled between January 5-18. For the shotgun event scheduled to take place between January 12-22 in Kuwait City, eight Paris spots are available.
The Indian shooting squad has already won 13 quota spots and will be looking to add to that tally in these tournaments.
The squad has been selected on the basis of current domestic rankings and only those with quotas already to their name have been left out.
In the Jakarta event, India will be looking to particularly add to their pistol quotas, given five more are still to be won. All the eight quota places in rifle events have already been secured.
In Kuwait, India has six quota places to aim for – all four in skeet and a two in trap shooting.
Three Olympians – former men’s trap world champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Gurpreet Singh in pistol and Anjum Moudgil in rifle – make their comebacks.
Among the senior team debutants will be Sri Karthik Sabari Raj (men’s 10m air rifle), Ujjawal Malik (men’s 10m air pistol) and Bhavya Tripathi (women’s trap).
Three shooters – Tilottama Sen (women’s 10m air rifle), Shriyanka Sadangi (women’s 50m rifle 3 positions) and Bhowneesh Mendiratta (men’s trap) – who are quota holders have also been included in the squad to shoot in the RPO, or ranking points only category and will not be competing for medals.
India squad
Rifle
10m men: Rudrankksh Patil, Arjun Babuta, Srikarthik Sabari Raj
10m women: Mehuli Ghosh, Elavenil Valarivan, Nancy, Tilottama Sen (RPO)
50m 3-position men: Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Swapnil Kusale, Akhil Sheoran
50m 3-position women: Sift Kaur Samra, Anjum Moudgil, Ashi Chouksey, Shriyanka Sadangi (RPO)Pistol
10m men: Arjun Singh Cheema, Varun Tomar, Ujjawal Malik
10m women: Rhythm Sangwan, Surbhi Rao, Esha Singh
25m rapid fire men: Vijayveer Sidhu, Bhavesh Shekhawat, Gurpreet Singh
25m pistol women: Esha Singh, Simranpreet Kaur Brar, Rhythm SangwanTrap
Men: Lakshay, Zoravar Singh Sandhu, Manavjit Singh Sandhu
Women: Manisha Keer, Bhavya Tripathi, Shreyasi SinghSkeet
Men: Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Gurjoat Khangura, Munek Battula
Women: Ganemat Sekhon, Raiza Dhillon, Maheshwari ChauhanMixed teams
Rifle: Rudrankksh Patil and Mehuli Ghosh; Arjun Babuta and Elavenil Valarivan
Pistol: Arjun Singh Cheema and Rhythm Sangwan; Varun Tomar and Surbhi Rao
Trap: Lakshay and Manisha Keer; Zoravar Singh Sandhu and Bhavya Tripathi
Skeet: Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Ganemat Sekhon; Gurjoat Khangura and Raiza Dhillon