New Delhi [India]: Olympic bronze-medallist Gagan Narang will lead a 37-member Indian contingent at the 10th Asian Championship 10m Rifle/Pistol, which is set to get underway at the Asaka Shooting Range in Wako city, Japan, from December 8.
India is ready to mount a strong challenge in the upcoming tournament as it consists of junior, youth and senior shooters.
A total of 407 athletes from 27 countries will pile up 407 starts in the 12 finals scheduled over the next four days in a range which will be used for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics shooting competitions.
Friday, day one of competitions, has three finals lined up beginning with the 10m Air Rifle Men followed by 10m Air Rifle Women and Junior Men’s finals.
Narang will spearhead India’s challenge in the first event itself along with Ravi Kumar and Deepak Kumar, who have also been shooting well over the past year.
The event will also act as a qualification event for the Youth Olympic Games, scheduled for Buenos Aires, Argentina, next year. Asia has a total of 14 quota places in Shooting for the Youth Olympics. 13 Indian shooters will be vying for those quota places across the four 10m Air Rifle and Air Pistol events in the youth category.
The Indian contingent are coming back from a strong show at the recently held Commonwealth Shooting Championship and will have the likes of Heena Sidhu who won a gold at the championship.
The trio of Shahzar Rizvi, Omkar Singh and Jitu Rai who ensured a clean sweep for India in Men’s air pistol at the Commonwealth Shooting Championship (CSC), will also be seen in action along with other talented shooters like Pooja Ghatkar and Meghana Sajjanar among others.
With the Youth Olympic Games spot up for grabs Indian youth shooters like Arjun Singh Cheema, Saurabh Chaudhary and Surinder Singh will be leading the charge for India in the 10m Air Pistol Men youth category.
In the 10m Air Rifle men Mohit Kumar Agnihotri, Dikshant Gupta, Hriday Hazarika and Tushar Mane will be fighting for the quota spot.
In the women’s 10m Air Pistol Youth Women Manu Bhaker, Anushka Patil, Raghav Priya will compete for the Olympic spot.
The 10m Air Rifle Women Youth will see representation from Shreya Agarwal, Kavi Rakshna Chakkaravarthy and Mehuli Ghosh for the Youth Olympic Spots.(ANI)