Indian Shooting thread

[sameerph]

Unless Mairaj is awfully out of form he should be the one going to the Rio, its been a long wait for us in skeet and finally things have started to improve so its important we avoid any fiasco

As for Sanjeev, while he got us the quota today his form in 2015 and even today suggests he will pose no serious challenge , given that Chain Singh, Gagan are in much better form,it can all change thou in next few months..

Yes, the most logical choice for exchange of quota would be Sanjeev Rajput as we are not going to be miss any spot by doing that. However, one will have to see if Gagan is ready to participate in 3 events at Rio which would be a bit of heavy workload. If it is decided that Gagan will concentrate on only 2 events, then Mairaj remains the only option for exchange.

Mohd. Asab in double trap is in very good form and even won a bronze world cup final last year. So, he can be a medal prospect at Rio and I think we need to get him in the team in place of someone.

Vijay or Manavjeet have more of a past glory than recent form and it is not fair that they be included in place of anyone else.

So, Asab replacing either Sanjeev or Mairaj can prove to be a good choice.

[sameerph]

First of the shooting world cups for this year began in Bangkok, Thailand yesterday.

Yesterday, it was disappointing performance by Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Naran in mens 10 m Air rifle where they finished way behind. However, Chain Singh had a good score in the same event and missed the final by a whisker.

In womens 10m Air rifle, 2 of our Rio qualified shooters, Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika Paul could not do well but Pooja Ghatkar reached the final for the first time in her career and finished in a credible 4th.

[sameerph]

Big performance came today in the Bangkok world cup from Jitu Rai who won the gold in the mens 50 m pistol event. In the qualification he was lying in 15th or so spot at halfway stage but staged a remarkable comeback to finish 3rd in the qualification stage.

In the final too, he was initially lying 5th or so and gradually improved his position to eventually end up comfortable at the top.

This is the report from ISSF site -

“My goal is the Olympic title” says India’s Jitu Rai in Bangkok, taking 50m Pistol Men Gold

“The goal for the 2016 season is very clear: I want to win the Olympic Gold medal in Rio de Janeiro,” he said right after the final.

He is clearly our most consistent shooter and our best prospect for a medal at Rio.

[arjun2761]

Good to see Jitu Rai win a World Cup event. Hopefully, our shooters will do well this year as they remain among our best prospects for Olympic medals in Rio.

[Ayush1234567]

Jitu Rai also Qualified For the Finals of 10m Pistol.
for the finals.

[sameerph]

Jitu finished 5th in the final today. He was leading for some time but had one poor shot which set him back. Still, another good effort by him.

[jaydeep]

So as expected Sanjeev Rajput's quota place will be swapped with a second men's trap berth for Manavjit Singh Sandhu ... But good to see that they r keeping young Kynan Chenai quota in trap.

Though I still feel Mohammed Asab in double trap was better option instead of Manavjit.

[sameerph]

Yes, I too think so as Asab has come close to medals in world cups. But, it seems they had an objective criteria for selection (considering scores in specific trials held and international competitions) in which Manvajit scored higher than Kynan and therefore, was first choice for mens trap.

The choice was between Kynan and Asab and it seems they chose Kynan as he actually won the quota. Bad luck for Asab.

Overall, due to doubles starters we will have 18 entries as follows-

Mens Rifle

10M Air rifle - Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang
50M rifle 3 positions - Gagan Narang, Chain Singh
50M rifle prone- Gagan Narang, Chain Singh

Mens Pistol

10M Pistol - Jitu Rai, Gurpreet Singh
50M Pistol - Jitu Rai, Prakash Nanjappa
25M rapid fire pistol - Gurpreet Singh

Mens Shotgun

Trap - Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Kynan Chenai
Skeet- Mairaj Ahmed Khan

Womens Rifle

10M Air rifle - Apurvi Chandla, Ayonika Paul

Womens Pistol

10M Pistol - Heena Siddhu
25M Pistol - Heena Siddhu

We have almost a full team in mens except doubles trap. In women, we are missing competitors in shotgun, 25 M pistol and rifle 3 positions event.

Still, this is better than 15 entries which we had last time. I am hoping for at least 3 medals in shooting this time with the size and the quality of our squad.

[ankit1407]

I think due to limited size competition in double trap its not easy to get a quota exchanged, infact if rejected you lose the quota IIRC...i think that.might be the reason of Asab missing from the list...

[Tolamu]

In Rio World Cup, Jitu Rai was 4th in the Qualification with 563 pts to enter the 50m finals.

Update: He finished a poor 6th in the final.

[sameerph]

6th in this world cup event where all the top shooters are participating is now poor, Tolamu. I think right now Jitu is our best medal prospect (in all sports) for Rio.

[Tolamu]

Heena Sidhu finished a disappointing 42nd in 25m pistol qualification with 568 pts.

[Tolamu]

In 50m rifle prone, Gagan Narang came 48th in the Qualification. In the live scoring his 50th shot was awarded 10.1 with a total score of 625.6, came 6th to qualify for the final. But the official score showed 0 and total score of 615.5. Why?I dunno!

[sameerph]

It seems Gagan's one shot was termed illegal. It looks like bad ammunition cost him that shot. Anyway, I think medals in this tournament is not of as much importance as reasonably good score and acclimatisation to the conditions.

In that respect, Gagan, Abhinav, Jitu, Ayonika Paul, Apurvi Chandela have done fairly well staying close to leading pack. All of them have talent to rise to the occasion at the Olympics and deliver.

Not so good from Heena and Manavjeet.

[sameerph]

In the last event for Rio world cup, Mairaj Ahmed Khan has reached the final of skeet event finishing second with a score of 122. He had 3 24's yesterday and 2 perfect 50's today.

Let's hope the best in the final.