By Navneet Singh
New Delhi, Feb 3 : When the Indian trap shooters step on to the ranges in this month’s International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Shotgun World Cup in Cairo, Egypt, it will be their last chance to grab an Olympic berth via individual quota place.
In the 2019 Olympic qualification period, trap shooters weren’t impressive and failed to grab Olympic quota place. Overall, India have so far won 15 quota places, including 13 in rifle and pistol, with the other two quotas going to skeet.
“It’s very tricky situation. Now the shooters will have to stay on target for podium finish to earn valuable world ranking points. The higher they rank the better the chances for individual quota,” said the chief coach of the challenging task,” chief shotgun coach Mansher Singh told IANS.
“What is more demanding is the fact that the Egypt World Cup is the only event that offers ranking points for shotgun ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. Shooters have to stay calm to have good results,” said the 1994 Commonwealth Games gold medallist in trap. The Shotgun World Cup will be held from February 22 to March 5 in Cairo.
The New Delhi World Cup, to be held from March 18, will have ranking points only for rifle and pistol.
As per the ISSF policy, individual quota is allotted to shooters in a discipline in which India hasn’t got quota during the qualifying cycle. The individual quota is for the shooter and not for his country. The world governing body will announce on May 31 who all are eligible for individual quota.
The national preparatory camp will commence from February 15 at Dr Karni Singh Shooting Ranges. The men’s trap team comprises Jakarta Asian Games silver medallist Lakshay Sheoran, Kynan Chenai, and Prithviraj Tondaiman.
Shreyasi Singh, the 2018 Commonwealth Games champion, Ria Rajeshwari Kumari, and Manisha Keer have been selected in the women’s group.
Talented youngster Gurjot Singh has been included in the men’s skeet team apart from Bajwa and Khan. Ganemat Sekhon, Parinaz Dhaliwal and Kartiki Singh are in the women’s skeet team. The skeet team will leave February 20 for Egypt while trap squad will leave five days later.
Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from IANS service.