Shooting WC: Air rifle women, air pistol men in focus as stage set for first two finals in Munich

Munich, June 9 The first two finals, the women’s 10m air rifle (ARW) and the men’s 10m air pistol (APM), are set to be played out on competition day one of the season’s third International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup (Rifle/Pistol) stage in Munich’s Olympic Shooting range on Tuesday, with as many as three shooters looking to make their World Cup debuts for India in the two events.

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) had declared a 22-member Indian team for the Munich World Cup with double-Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker and Kiran Ankush Jadhav shooting in two individual events.

Elimination and qualifications to four of the 10 events on the Munich roster begin at 12.30 PM Indian Standard Time (IST) with the two finals scheduled for 5.00 pm IST (ARW) and 9.00 PM IST (APM), respectively.

India will field as many as three World Cup debutants in the two medal events of the opening day, with national champion Ananya Naidu in the women’s event and Aditya Malra and Nishant Rawat in the men’s event, starting for the first time at this level.

Arya Borse, the second Indian air rifle shooter, is also in her first senior year but has been in great form, making one individual final and winning two mixed team silver medals in the year’s first two World Cup stages at Buenos Aires and Lima, respectively.

That leaves two-time Olympian and two-time individual World Cup gold medallist Elavenil Valarivan and Asian championships winner and four-time World Cup medallist Varun Tomar to don the senior mantle in the two events.

"The thing is, the Munich range is familiar to most of the shooters, and they have all come here several times for other events on the European circuit also, so that should not be a problem. They have all settled down well and are shooting well in training, so let’s see," quipped national rifle coach Deepali Deshpande during pre-event training on Monday.

National Pistol coach Samaresh Jung was of the view, “The scores are good, all are fit and fine, so we are confident enough. The thing about Munich is, it always attracts a big and quality field, but if we are able to perform at our best, we should be in the reckoning.”

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