CHENNAI: Young gun Anish Bhanwala could possibly qualify for the Tokyo Olympics through world ranking quota after the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) said on Wednesday that the 2021 Delhi World Cup will be decisive for Olympic qualification.
“The 2021 ISSF World Cup rifle/pistol/shotgun in New Delhi will be decisive for Tokyo 2020 Qualification regarding the World Ranking. This decision of the Executive Committee is compliant with the general approach to maintain the original Qualification System approved in 2017 as much as possible,” ISSF wrote on its site.
According to the ISSF Qualification System, the world ranking points earned during the aforementioned World Cup will be added to the ranking list of March 31, 2020. The highest-ranked shooter, who has not qualified so far, will be allotted the quota.
This opens the door for Anish, who’s currently ranked World No 12. All the other shooters (25m rapid fire pistol) above him have either qualified already or are not eligible. World No 1 and 2016 Olympic gold medallist Christian Reitz has already secured a berth. And there are five shooters from China above Anish, with the country already having secured a maximum of two quotas.
So if the Delhi World Cup, which is scheduled to be held from March 19-28 next year, goes ahead as planned, Anish will have strong chance to garner big ranking points and make his case.
India national pistol coach Jaspal Rana felt the 2018 Commonwealth Games gold winner meets the criterion, but called for caution before forecasting his qualification chances given the fact that there’s so much uncertainty due to ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“You can’t say for sure now. If you see the ranking and paperwork, he’s there. You don’t know what will happen until the start of the World Cup. Things are still unclear, and we have a long way to go. He has a chance, but we have to be objective for now.”
Indian shooters have earned a record 15 quotas so far. Jaspal, the force behind some of the youngsters, believes that the likes of Anish should continue to train hard rather than focus on rankings.
“He has already started training with the Olympics in mind. Irrespective of what the final outcome is, the players should not think about such things and solely focus on their training.”