CHENNAI: Indian shooters have won as many as 13 quotas for the Paris Olympics so far and they’ll have an opportunity to add to the tally during the Asian Championship (rifle/pistol) in Jakarta, Indonesia. The continental event, which begins on Monday, will offer 16 Olympic quotas in total — two each in all the different rifle and pistol events.
Given that the country’s shooters from the rifle section have already fetched the maximum number of quotas (eight), they’ll most be vying for pride and ranking points. The onus will be on pistol shooters, who have just won three quotas (out of a possible eight) so far. So the focus will be on the likes of Rhythm Sangwan, Esha Singh, Arjun Singh Cheema and Vijayveer Sidhu, to name a few.
The first day of the competition will witness the likes of Arjun, Rhythm and Esha enter the range with the 10m air pistol (men and women) competitions taking place. Rhythm had narrowly missed out on a spot in the finals during the last Olympic qualification event in Changwon, Korea last year. The story is similar for Esha, who won a silver medal during the Asian Games in this particular event.
Both of them have shown they have the minerals in their game to post big scores and they’ll be eager to secure the quota for India. It’s a big possibility given that they will also be taking part in the women’s 25m pistol event, where the former has a world record (qualification world record) to her name. “They have all been shooting well in training. The scores are good, now they have to just execute tomorrow (Monday). We are very positive,” Samaresh Jung, national pistol coach, said.
Quota winners from rifle section, Tilottama Sen and Shriyanka Sadangi, will be also be present but they won’t be vying for medals. They’ll just be taking for ranking points. Olympians Gurpreet Singh (men’s 25m rapid fire pistol) and Anjum Moudgil (women’s 50m rifle 3 positions) will be also looking to use their experience and challenge for the medals.
As many as 385 athletes from 26 countries will be assembling at the Senayan Shooting Range for 256 medals (84 gold, 84 silver and 88 bronze medals), besides the Paris quotas. “It’s an old school range and our shooters have settled down pretty comfortably. It’s a competitive field as the stakes are high, but we expect some success,” said Pierre Beauchamp, India’s high performance director.
This is the second-last qualification event for rifle and pistol shooters.