CHENNAI: After a series of trials and competitions, India’s shotgun shooters are set for bigger challenges. The National Rifle Association of India, the governing body of the sport in the country, has proposed a list of shotgun shooters (trap and skeet) for the upcoming World Championships and the Asian Games.
The list includes shooters like Ganemat Sekhon, Angad Vir Singh Bajwa, Prithviraj Tondaiman and Kynan Chenai, to name a few. All of them practically picked themselves with their performances during the trials in recent months. Some of the familiar names who narrowly missed out are Manavjit Singh Sandhu (trap) and Mairaj Ahmad Khan (skeet).
Ganemat has been one of the noteworthy shooters in the skeet section. In 2021, she became the first woman from the country to capture an individual medal (bronze) in the said discipline. Earlier this year, she bettered that effort with a silver medal during the Almaty World Cup. Given Ganemat’s and the rest of the shooters’ promise, the team is carrying high hopes. “The shooters have improved and have put up noteworthy performances in recent times. We are hopeful of putting up a strong show and winning a few quotas,” a national coach, who has been guiding the shooters up close, said.
The World Championships is scheduled to be held in Baku (Azerbaijan) from August 14 to September 1 while the Asian Games is slated to be held from September 23 to October 8 in Hangzhou, China. The upcoming events are important given the fact there will be quotas on offer. India have won three quotas so far with one coming in the shotgun section.
Trap shooter Bhowneesh Mendiratta, who won a quota for the country in the World Championships, was placed fourth after the latest trials. His omission is not a worry for India as the likes of Prithviraj and Kynan, who competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics, will get a chance to earn a ticket to Paris. Prithviraj, Kynan and Ganemat will also be participating in the mixed team events during the Worlds.
