World Cup results to help Indian shooters fine-tune Tokyo 2020 preparations: National pistol coach 

The Indian contingent put up a stellar show at the recently-concluded ISSF World Cup in New Delhi to finish at the top. It was the most successful outing for the hosts in a single edition of the World Cup stage, bagging 30 medals, which included 15 gold.

The World Cup also turned out to be an important stage for the Tokyo-bound shooters to assess their game ahead of the Olympics.

National pistol coach Samresh Jung believes the results at the World Cup will allow Indian shooters to fine-tune ahead of the Tokyo Games which get underway in July 2021.

“The overall results will enable us to tweak the training plans. The shooters were competing at the world level after a gap of over a year. The scores will enable the coaching team to evaluate the performance and work accordingly to prepare the shooters for the Olympics,” Jung told IANS.

However, Jung also clarified that coaches can help and guide their wards train and tackle the pressure but it is up to the shooters to perform on competition day.

“The coaches can guide the shooters in handling crunch situations during the match. But ultimately it depends on an individual how (s)he deals with high voltage competition,” he explained.

While there were a lot of positives for the Indian shooters at the World Cup, there was some slight disappointment for young Anish Bhanwala, who missed out on securing a Tokyo Olympics quota, as he finished fifth in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event.

The 18-year-old could have punched his ticket to Tokyo, by the virtue of global rankings, if he finished at the top in his category.

“Graduating from the junior to senior rank takes time. Some shooters are able to do that faster while others take a bit long. Bhanwala has the ability to shoot good scores. How long he takes to shoot steady scores under pressure will depend on him,” said Jung.

The Indian contingent will have a record participation of 15 shooters at Tokyo 2020. It includes six quota in pistol shooting, seven in rifle events, while two in skeet shooting.

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) will, however, determine the final team for the Olympics.