CHENNAI: They will be closely followed by many for the next few weeks.
One of the biggest and highly-touted contingent from India reached Tokyo early in the morning on Saturday.
Having spent four-five hours at the airport for Covid tests and immigration formalities, the Indian shooting team reached the Games Village in the afternoon.
After getting acclimatised to the conditions in the Village and in Tokyo, the shooters are expected to start training from July 19, days before the Opening Ceremony on July 23.
"We reached in the afternoon. The Games Village is really nice and good. Everything is very well organised," an upbeat Sanjeev Rajput, who is set to compete in men's 50m rifle 3 positions, told this newspaper.
The 15-member shooting team along with coaches and support staff had been training in Croatia and Italy for over two months. The fact that they were training abroad means the team won't be subjected to three-day quarantine. All the participants, including athletes from Japan, will be tested on a daily basis.
"Everybody is fine. It was a long journey for them so they're trying to get much-needed rest. Upon landing, everybody had done the needful as per IOC 'Playbook', so it was a smooth process," Rajiv Bhatia, NRAI secretary, said.
"I'm not 100 per cent sure, but I believe they can resume training from July 19," he added.
Whatever little amount of training they can get there could prove to be decisive for the shooters. The rifle/pistol shooters had been training in Zagreb before their arrival while the skeet shooters had been training in Italy.
They had also participated in two events — European Championship and ISSF World Cup (both events were held in Osijek).
India will be fielding its biggest ever shooting contingent during the Games.
The shooting events will be held from July 23 to August 2 at the Asaka Shooting Range.
After a steady rise in recent years, Indian shooters enter the event after strong shows in recent years. A medal-winning show could put their names in history books and propel them to greatness.