Shooting: NRAI name 32-member core group to train separately for Tokyo Olympics

The National Rifle Association of India on Friday released the names of a 32-member core group who will be training separately for the Tokyo Olympics.

Of the 32 shooters, 15 have won an Olympic quota during the qualification period. However, as per its stated selection policy, the NRAI reserves the right to swap one or two places depending on form and aggregate scores in the lead-up to the final team selection. Indian shooters were primed for success at the Tokyo Games before the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic led to a one-year postponement.

The list includes youngsters Elavenil Valarivan and Anish Bhanwala as well as Anjum Moudgil and Manu Bhaker in two disciplines. However Mehuli Ghosh was conspicuous by her absence in the list.

“These shooters will be training and preparing for the Games separately. There could a change or two also when the team is selected depending on scores and form of shooters,” an NRAI source told PTI.

In May, the International Olympic Committee had approved the world shooting governing body’s updated qualification system for the Tokyo Olympics, which could see India add at least one more quota to the 15 secured during the qualifying cycle that began with 2018 World Championship in Korea.

This could help someone like Bhanwala to secure a quota for himself in the 25m rapid-fire pistol, a category in which India won a silver at the 2012 London Games. He was in the top 10 in the March 31 ranking for his event and all the other shooters above him had already secured their quotas, helping his cause. His chances will only increase if he shoots a good score in the World Cup in March-April next year.

The new deadline for Tokyo 2020 Qualification in shooting is June 6, 2021 as the International Shooting Sport Federation had called off all its World Cups this year due to the pandemic.