New Delhi, Sep 12 (IANS): National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), on Thursday, announced a 23-member Indian shooting squad for the upcoming International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Final Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun, scheduled to be held here at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range (DKSSR) from October 13-18.
The team has nine members from the Paris 2024 Olympics team which returned with three bronze medals and a total of 11 Olympians, who will gun for the title of the best shooter of the year along with the world’s top sport shooting athletes, in 12 individual Olympic events on the New Delhi roster.
Four shooters, Divyansh Singh Panwar (men’s 10m air rifle), Sonam Uttam Maskar (women’s 10m air rifle), Rhythm Sangwan (women’s 10m air pistol & 25m pistol) and Ganemat Sekhon (women’s skeet) have been directly selected by the ISSF as per their ISSF rankings, while the rest of the Indian shooters have been selected based on the Olympic trials rankings.
Seasoned shooters and Olympians Mairaj Ahmed Khan (men’s skeet) and Chain Singh (men’s 50m rifle 3 positions) will be seen representing India once again.
Besides Rhythm, who will be the only shooter to compete in two events, the squad includes the likes of Arjun Babuta (men’s 10m air rifle), Arjun Singh Cheema (men’s 10m air pistol), Anish and Vijayveer Sidhu (men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol), Shreyasi Singh and Rajeshwari Kumari (women’s trap), Maheshwari Chauhan (women’s skeet) and Anant Jeet Singh Naruka (men’s skeet).
"We have a strong squad of proven performers for the ISSF year-ender and look forward to a strong performance. Expectations from the sport have reached sky-high after the Paris performance and I am sure our world class shooters are confident and excited to perform in front of home fans.
"A fantastic three days of world class sport shooting action awaits us as India take on the world’s best in the season-ending showdown between the best in the sport. We wish the team all the very best," said Kr. Sultan Singh, NRAI secretary general.
Squad:
Air Rifle Men- Divyansh Singh Panwar, Arjun Babuta
Air Rifle Women - Sonam Uttam Maskar, Tillotama Sen
50m Rifle 3P Men - Chian Singh, Akhil Sheoran
50m Rifle 3P Women - Ashi Chouksi, Nischal
Air Pistol Men - Arjun Singh Cheema, Varun Tomar
Air Pistol Women - Rhythm Sangwan, Surbhi Rao
25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men- Anish, Vijayveer Sidhu
25m Sports Pistol Women - Rhythm Sangwan, Simranpreet Kaur Brar
Trap Men - Vivaan Kapoor, Bhowneesh Mendiratta
Trap Women - Rajeshwari Kumari, Shreyasi singh
Skeet Men - Anant Jeet Singh Naruka, Mairaj Ahmed Khan
Skeet Women - Ganesmat Sekhon, Maheshwari Chauhan