Olympians Manu Bhaker, Vijay Kumar and Elavenil Valarivan headline a 48-member Indian shooting team for the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship Rifle/Pistol 2022.
The world championship will take place in Cairo, Egypt from October 12-25 in Cairo, Egypt. Rifle shooter Saurabh Chaudhary, the only Indian to make it to any final at the Tokyo Olympics, has not been named in the squad.
The experienced campaigners in the squad include the likes of Olympians, Manu Bhaker, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Elavenil Valarivan, besides Divyansh Singh Panwar, who has qualified in the junior section.
Shiva Narwal, who will be leading the Indian trio in the Men's 10m Air Pistol, for example, is not yet 17 and will be in his first world. Others like Swapnil Suresh Kusale, who is among the country's top Rifle shooting exponents, particularly in small-bore, for some time now, will also be featuring in his first world championships. Swapnil was in form at the Baku ISSF World Cup stage earlier this year, where he won a first individual world cup stage gold, a silver in Men's 3P as well as a mixed 3P gold.
Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar on the other hand will also be competing in his first world championship and his rise in Men's Rifle 3 Positions in the last couple of years, has been nothing short of phenomenal.
The ISSF World Championships are considered by the global Shooting Sports community as the ultimate prize in the sport. Some Shooting athletes have been on record to say that it is more coveted than the Olympics.
( With inputs from ANI )
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