Paris 2024 Olympics shooting: India finalise 21-member contingent - full squad
A 21-member Indian shooting team will compete at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) had announced the 15-strong rifle and pistol contingent on June 11 while the shotgun squad was announced after the conclusion of the Lonato World Cup on June 18.
Youth Olympic Games gold medallist Manu Bhaker will compete in the women’s 10m air pistol and the women’s 25m pistol. She is the only athlete participating in more than one individual event and will also feature in the pistol mixed team event.
It will be Manu Bhaker’s second Olympics after Tokyo 2020.
India had obtained the maximum possible 16 quotas - eight each in the rifle and pistol - from the Olympic shooting qualifying events.
Apart from Manu Bhaker, rifle shooters Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Anjum Moudgil and Elavenil Valarivan will return for their second Olympic Games. The remaining 11 rifle and pistol shooters will be making their Olympic debuts.
Sift Kaur Samra, who won an individual gold medal in the 50m rifle 3 positions at the Asian Games last year with a world record in the final, is also in the Indian team.
The 19-year-old shooter Esha Singh, who won four medals at the Asian Games, and Rhythm Sangwan make up the three-women pistol team with Manu.
Former world champion Rudrankksh Patil, Tokyo Olympian Divyansh Singh Panwar and Asian Games medallist Ashi Chouksey were some of the notable names who missed the Paris Olympics squad.
Asian Games champions Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Singh Cheema are in the 10m air pistol Indian team.
The shotgun team was also announced following the conclusion of the ISSF World Cup in Lonato on June 18. India obtained five quotas in shotgun events for the Paris 2024 Olympics during the qualifying period, which ended on June 9.
Asian Games and Asian Championships silver medal winner Anant Jeet Singh Naruka will feature in men’s skeet while Maheshwari Chauhan and Raiza Dhillon will be India’s women’s skeet representatives in France.
Prithviraj Tondaiman will be India’s lone representative in the men’s trap while Rajeshwari Kumari and Shreyashi Singh will compete in the women’s event.
Shreyasi Singh, a former Commonwealth Games champion, was added to India’s shotgun squad on June 21 after the NRAI’s request for a Paris 2024 quota swap was approved by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF).
The NRAI exchanged one of the pistol quotas for a women’s trap shooter after Manu Bhaker had topped the national trials in the women’s 10m air pistol and the women’s 25m pistol, freeing up a quota in the pistol for shotgun events.
Two-time Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan failed to make the cut in the team and so has Bhowneesh Mendiratta, who obtained the first Paris 2024 Olympic quota for India at the 2022 ISSF World Championships.
In addition, India will field five mixed teams - two each in rifle and pistol and one in shotgun - at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
This will be India’s largest-ever shooting contingent at the Olympics, eclipsing the 15 from Tokyo 2020.
Indian shooting team for Paris 2024 Olympics
Rifle
Men’s 10m air rifle: Sandeep Singh, Arjun Babuta
Women’s 10m air rifle: Elavenil Valarivan, Ramita Jindal
Women’s 50m rifle 3 positions: Sift Kaur Samra, Anjum Moudgil
Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions: Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Swapnil Kusale
10m air rifle mixed team: Sandeep Singh/Elavenil Valarivan, Arjun Babuta/Ramita Jindal
Pistol
Men’s 10m air pistol: Sarabjot Singh, Arjun Cheema
Women’s 10m air pistol: Manu Bhaker, Rhythm Sangwan
Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol: Anish Bhanwala, Vijayveer Sidhu
Women’s 25m pistol: Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh
10m air pistol mixed team: Sarabjot Singh/Manu Bhaker, Arjun Singh Cheema/Rhythm Sangwan
Shotgun
Men’s trap: Prithviraj Tondaiman
Women’s trap: Rajeshwari Kumari, Shreyasi Singh
Men’s skeet: Anantjeet Singh Naruka
Women’s skeet: Maheshwari Chauhan, Raiza Dhillon
Skeet mixed team: Anantjeet Singh Naruka/Maheshwari Chauhan