The Indian shooting contingent will be hoping to start its campaign at the Paris Olympics in a way that it wipes out the nightmare at Tokyo 2021.
The 15-member contingent in Tokyo was the country’s largest in the sport at any Olympics, and the belief was given the preparation in the times of the pandemic were good enough for a bagful of medals.
The optimism was misplaced as pistol shooter Saurabh Chaudhary was the lone name to make a final.
Among those who fell short was Elavenil Valarivan. Teaming up with Divyansh Singh Panwar, the duo finished 12th in 10m air rifle mixed team. The other Indian pair of Deepak Kumar and Anjum Moudgil fared worse, and finished 18th.
Elavenil (World No 20) has a chance at redemption with new partner Sandeep Singh (World No 16) when the mixed team qualification commences on Saturday, followed by the final a few hours later.
The other Indian team in the fray comprises Ramita Jindal (World No 19) and Arjun Babuta (World No 14), and hope floats that the shooters’ form will combine into a potent combination.
Sandeep comes into Paris on the back of some strong performances, notable being the 5th in mixed team at the Rio de Janeiro World Cup last year. He also topped the Olympic Selection Trials at Bhopal in March.
Gold medallist in mixed team at the 2021 ISSF World Cup in New Delhi, Elavenil will attempt to match her performance on a stage much bigger and deeper in terms of competition.
The lone quota winner among the four, Arjun won gold at the 2022 Changwon World Cup, and finished second behind Sandeep at the selection trials.
Buoyed by the individual and team bronze at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, Ramita topped the 10m air rifle selection trials at Bhopal in dramatic fashion, shooting 634.6 (0.1 more than the existing world record set by China’s Han Jiayu at the Baku World Cup).
Qualification for 10m air pistol for men and women will also commence on Saturday.
In men, the onus is on Sarabjot Singh (World No 14) and Arjun Singh Cheema (World No 21) to deliver a performance that will elevate them to the final, and ultimately a medal.
Sarabjot comes into Paris on the back of his recent gold at the Munich World Cup and bronze at the 2023 Asian Shooting Championships in Changwon, which also got him the Olympic quota.
Cheema is a non-quota place winner but excelled in the selection trials in Bhopal to finish ahead of Sarabjot, who was part of the team that won gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
In women’s 10m air pistol, the focus will be on Manu Bhaker (World No 26), making her second Olympic appearance after Tokyo.
Like Elavenil, Manu will also be seeking course correction as a weapon malfunction has put her put of reckoning at the 2021 Olympics. Manu will also be in action in women’s 25m pistol.
Her teammate Rhythm Sangwan, is ranked No 3 in the world, and is also a quota winner in 25m pistol, but is equally adept in 10m air pistol.