New Delhi, Aug 13 (IANS): The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) has cleared the participation of a 34-member Indian contingent in the upcoming ISSF World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. The contingent includes 17 men and 17 women participants.

The financial assistance towards participation will cover the funding of the 57-member shooting team which includes 34 shooters, 15 coaches, and 8 members of support staff including the HPD.

The team's boarding/lodging costs, airfare, visa costs and out-of-pocket allowance (OPA) among other expenditures will be covered under MYAS Annual Callender for Training & Competition (ACTC) scheme.

Out of 34 shooters competing at the event, 24 are Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) athletes and seven are Khelo India athletes.

The event will kick off on August 14 and conclude on September 1. The prestigious event is important for India going into the Paris Olympic year as it has a total of 48 Olympic Quotas to offer across 15 events.

In the 2022 edition of the ISSF Shooting World Championships, India won 34 medals including 12 gold, 9 silver and 13 bronze medals and finished second on the overall medals tally behind China.

The 34 Indian shooters who will be competing at the event are:

Divyansh Singh Panwar, Ramita, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Mehuli Ghosh, Hriday Hazarika, Toilottama Sen, Akhil Sheoran, Sift Kaur Samra, Niraj Kumar, Ashi Chouksey, Sarabjot Singh, Manini Kaushik, Shiva Narwal, Divya T.S, Arjun Singh Cheema, Esha Singh, Anish Bhanwala, Palak, Vijayveer Sidhu, Rhythm Sangwan, Adarsh Singh, Manu Bhaker, Prithviraj Tondaiman, Manisha Keer, Kynan Chenai, Preeti Rajak, Zoravar Singh Sandhu, Rajeshwari Kumar, Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Ganemat Sekhon, Angadvir Singh Bajwa, Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Gurjoat Singh Khangura, Darshana Rathore.