New Delhi, March 26 The first batch of 22 Indian shooters accompanied by 13 support staff left for the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires in the early hours of the day to participate in the year’s first International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup (Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun) stage, competitions for which are set to begin from April 3.
The Indian contingent of 35 shooters will compete in all 15 medal events on schedule including 12 individual and three mixed team events. Double Paris Olympics medallist Manu Bhaker is the only athlete to have made the cut in two individual events. The remaining members of the squad depart on March 29, given their competitions begin in the latter stages of the tournament.
Barring a couple of exceptions, all shooters reported to the preceding national camp organised by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Ranges in Delhi from March 14, for final preparations ahead of a double World Cup leg in South America, with Lima, Peru hosting the second, right after the season-opener at Buenos Aires.
Earlier, Ronak Pandit, High Performance Manager of the Indian shooting team, spoke about maximizing the potential of every athlete being the focus of the camp.
“We have a larger coaching team this time and also a lot of new crop of young talent that has come in, so the initial days was all about trying to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the Shooters, find out what they have been up to and then and devising programmes accordingly for each one of them, along with the coaches," he was quoted as saying by the NRAI in a release on Wednesday.
The Indian team for the first two World Cup stages is a fair mix of youth and experience, with as many as 16 Olympians in the squad, besides former world champions, many world No.1 shooters, and a double Olympic medalist in Manu.
However, the focus will also be on an exciting group of youngsters like Suruchi, Sainyam, Arya Borse, Sonam Maskar, Narmada Nithin, Ashi Chouksey, and Bhavtegh Gill, who will all be looking to win their first individual ISSF World Cup stage medal.
Ronak also spoke about a culture that has been developed in the team where everyone is trained to live in the moment.
“In the camp when the new upcoming talent see Olympic medallists, world champions, world number ones, getting back to being students of the game, following processes, continuously trying to improve, learning from their coaches, grinding it out and basically being grounded and living in the moment, I think that is the greatest learning that the youngsters can take,” he quipped when asked about the progress of the youngsters in the camp," said Ronak Pandit.
A few comebacks will also be the focus of a lot of attention. Saurabh Chaudhary, a former world number one, Youth Olympic champion, and winner of 12 ISSF World Cup medals, including three individual golds, will be making a World Cup comeback after a gap of close to a year and a half, ditto Olympian and seasoned pistol ace Gurpreet Singh.
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