Indian shooters are poised for a striking performance in Rio!
Having won four medals in the last three Olympics, out of the 12 that Indian athletes have accounted for since Leander Paes’s tennis bronze in Atlanta in 1996, Indian shooting has invariably stood at the top of Indian sport in recent times.
Anjali Bhagwat making the women’s air rifle final in Sydney in 2000, Abhinav Bindra taking baby steps then and launching himself decisively for the gold in Beijing, the path-breaking silver by Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore at Athens, the dark-horse performance by Vijay Kumar for the silver in London, and the fighting bronze by the much accomplished Gagan Narang, again in London in 2012, have projected a positive image of Indian shooting.
Bindra and Narang will lead the challenge at Rio as they compete in their fifth and fourth Olympics respectively. Both have the will to conjure up a medal on their day, though their methods may vary.
Jitu Rai, the army marksman of Nepalese origin, is the cynosure of all eyes. The Olympic medal is the only one missing from his rich collection as he is yet to compete at the Olympics. He has won the World Championship silver, Asian Games gold and Commonwealth Games gold, apart from two gold, three silver and a bronze in World Cups. Competing in air pistol and free pistol, he can strike a medal even if he slips in one.
At least two medals possibleShooters qualify through stringent methods with world class performances. When 390 shooters assemble in Rio, to fight for 45 medals, it is almost an average of a medal for every eight. Indian shooting should get at least two medals on an average. With the gold standard set in 2008, it needs to show the world again that it can strike the best.
Heena Sidhu, the dentist from Patiala who is married to Ronak Pandit, a world class shooter and coach, still has the world record for final in air pistol, she set on way to the gold in the World Cup Final in 2013. She is maturing into a world class shooter in sports pistol as well. Into her second Olympics, Heena has been shooting scores ranging from 382 to 389 in international competitions in air pistol over the last six years. The biggest loss for her has been coach Anatolii Piddubnyi, who had guided her and another young Olympian Rahi Sarnobat to world standards. An Olympic medal would be an apt honour in his memory.
In the absence of Vijay Kumar, who clinched the rapid fire pistol silver in London but narrowly missed qualification this time following a neck surgery, the onus will be on Gurpreet Singh, who has qualified in air pistol and shares Vijay’s coach, Pavel Smirnov.
If he strikes rhythm, as he did when he placed fourth in both air pistol and rapid fire pistol in the Munich World Cup last year, Gurpeet can spring a surprise.
Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika Paul, the young air rifle shooters, have achieved impressive results in the international arena, including the World Cup Final silver by the former, which augurs well for the rifle campaign. It is time for an Indian woman shooter to win an Olympic medal.
From the three shotgun shooters, there can be a medal. World champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu has the credentials even though he failed to win an Olympic quota for his fourth Olympics.
The six-time Asian champion, Asian Games silver medallist and two-time World Cup gold medallist, Manavjit, owes a medal to Sanjeev Rajput whose Olympic quota was traded for a berth in trap.
Mairaj Ahmad Khan showed his class, even though he lost the gold in the shoot-off after a tie in skeet at the same range in Rio, during the World Cup this season. Coached by Atlanta Olympics champion Ennio Falco, Mairaj has the drive and the decisive guidance to reach for the sky in skeet, an event known for a high degree of accuracy and perfect scores.
If some of the dozen shooters not named so far, like Prakash Nanjappa, Chain Singh or Kynan Chenai, spring up on their feet and make the world take notice, it would only prove the depth of Indian shooting.
