India names Tokyo Olympics shooting team, Elavenil Valarivan makes cut
Chinki Yadav, who had bagged a quota in the women’s 25m Pistol category, was named in the reserve team. Check full list.
The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), on Sunday, named a 15-member Indian shooting team for the Tokyo Olympics along with two reserve shooters for each of the disciplines.
Indian shooters had managed to secure an unprecedented 15 Olympic quotas for the country in the qualifiers. The quotas, however, are reserved for the country and not shooters.
NRAI chose the final contingent based on performances in the Olympic qualification cycle, which began from the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. An average of the five best scores registered by each shooter in an international competition in that period was taken into account while picking the final team.
Among India’s 15 quota winners, only Chinki Yadav missed the cut with women’s 10m Air Rifle world No. 1 shooter Elavenil Valarivan – who didn’t win a quota - taking her place in the first team. Chinki, however, has been named in the reserve list in the 25m pistol category.
Elavenil Valarivan will compete in the 10m Air Rifle, a quota bagged by Anjum Moudgil, who has been named as a reserve in the event. Anjum, however, will compete in the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Position discipline.
The much-fancied Manu Bhaker is set to compete in three categories: the 10m Air Pistol, 25m Pistol and the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team events.
The reserve list for each discipline was drawn up as a safeguard against the current COVID-19 situation. The reserves account for 14 additional shooters in the team.
The reserve shooters will undergo the same preparations as the core team shooters to ensure they can step in if any of the first-team shooters contract COVID or are unable to participate for any reason.
The Tokyo Olympics will begin in July and more shooters can still qualify for the Games based on their world rankings.
Indian shooting team for Tokyo 2020 Olympics - full list
10m Air Rifle Men
Divyansh Singh Panwar, Deepak Kumar
Reserves: Sandeep Singh, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar
50m Rifle 3 Position Men
Sanjeev Rajput, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar
Reserves: Swapnil Kusale, Chain Singh
10m Air Pistol Men
Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma
Reserves: Shahzar Rizvi, Om Prakash Mitharval
10m Air Rifle Women
Apurvi Chandela, Elavenil Valarivan
Reserves: Anjum Moudgil, Shreya Agarwal
50m Rifle 3 Position Women
Anjum Moudgil, Tejaswini Sawant
Reserves: Sunidhi Chauhan, Gaayathri N
10m Air Pistol Women
Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini Singh Deswal
Reserves: P Shri Nivetha, Shweta Singh
25m Pistol Women
Rahi Sarnobat, Manu Bhaker
Reserves: Chinki Yadav, Abhidnya Patil
Skeet Men
Angadvir Singh Bajwa, Mairaj Ahmad Khan
Reserves: Gurjoat Singh Khangura, Sheeraz Sheikh
10m Air Rifle Mixed Team
Divyansh Singh Panwar and Elavenil Valarivan, Deepak Kumar and Anjum Moudgil
10m Air Pistol Mixed Team
Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker, Abhishek Verma and Yashaswini Singh Deswal