New Delhi, Feb 22 (IANS) Olympic Games double-bronze medallist Manu Bhaker is the only one selected for two individual events by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) for the year’s first two World Cups which will kick-start the international shooting sports season for 2025.
The NRAI has announced a 35-member Indian team for the two-legged South American sojourn for both the combined (Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun) International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cups to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina (Apr 1-11) and Lima, Peru (Apr 13-22) in just over five weeks from now.
Bhaker, who had a decent outing in the National Selection Trials, will line up for a start in the women’s 10m air pistol and the women’s 25m pistol events and will be hoping to triumph in both to give her season a rousing start.
The other Paris Olympians who have retained their place in the team are Anish and Vijayveer Sidhu (men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol), Esha Singh (women’s 25m pistol), Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (men’s 50m rifle 3 positions), Sift Kaur Samra and Shriyanka Sadangi (women’s 50m rifle 3 positions), Arjun Babuta (men’s 10m air rifle), Prithviraj Tondaiman (men’s trap), Anant Jeet Singh Naruka (men’s skeet) and Raiza Dhillon (women’s skeet).
A national camp ahead of the team’s departure is scheduled to begin at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting range in Delhi on March 14.
Sharing his thoughts on the first Indian team post the successful Paris Olympics campaign, Kr. Sultan Singh, Secretary General, NRAI, said, “India’s best shooters will once again embark upon conquering the best in the world. The Government of India and the Ministry of Sports have been helping us immensely in fine-tuning our preparations and training and after the heartening performance in the Paris Olympics, a new responsibility rests on the entire Shooting fraternity to raise the bar even higher. We are confident that those selected for the international season openers will come out with flying colours.”
The biggest draw on the ISSF calendar this year will be the World Championships scheduled for October (Shotgun) and November (Rifle/Pistol). There will be a total of three World Cup stages for each discipline while two Junior World Cups, the second among them in New Delhi in September, are also scheduled. Also on the international roster, this year is the 16th Asian Championships in Kazakhstan in August.
–IANS
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