Indian Shooting thread

[sameerph]

There was no strong competitor for Deepak Kumar to displace him from his quota position like Elavenil displacing Anjum in 10M air rifle.

Couple of big selection calls there. Selecting Apurvi ahead of Anjum more on her 2019 performances ahead of current form. And selecting Manu ahead of Chinki Yadav again based on potential then last performance.

[Sin Hombre]

Interesting that they have Anjum and not Apurvi in the team event.

Also interesting that Elavenil gets to team up with Divyansh and not Anjum or Apurvi.

Feels like selection to ensure everyone is somewhat happy.

Elavenil gets two shots, Apurvi and Anjum get one each.

[sameerph]

True, how can Apurvi be good enough for individual event but not for the team event. However, I agree with the choice of Apurvi ahead of Anjum for individual event. She did give reason of change in equipment for poor form in recent tournaments. One has to give her benefit of doubt simply because her celiling appears much higher than Anjum. In 2019, Apurvi won 2 world cup golds while Anjum has not done much after the world championships 3 years back.

I just doubt about decision to pick Manu Bhaker for 3 events. Hope she is able to perform at her optimum level in all 3. Chinki Yadav was unlucky to miss out after a very good show at recent world cup.

[srini]

I just doubt about decision to pick Manu Bhaker for 3 events. Hope she is able to perform at her optimum level in all 3. Chinki Yadav was unlucky to miss out after a very good show at recent world cup.

This is India, where class system is deep-rooted and in an elite sport like shooting it would be much more conspicuous. So how can we expect the daughter of an electrician to make main list of Olympics whose entry into this elite sport happened only accidentally because her dad was working for the sports complex that has the shooting range? She is ranked world#1 as of today and probably first such occurrence of keeping elite athlete (not by birth) as reserve in shooting which also awards quota based on world ranking. She won the quota for Olympics, became world# 1 now, pray tell what else she needs to be doing! I guess she has to repeatedly prove herself to make it to next Olympics or just be happy with being part of contingent as reserve.
It would be good see the difference in type of twitter account the number of twitter followers for both. Manu has verified account, Chinki is not.304 followers for Chinki, 72K for Manu.

I guess it pays to be vocal and be trigger friendly in social media

[depleter]

I just doubt about decision to pick Manu Bhaker for 3 events. Hope she is able to perform at her optimum level in all 3. Chinki Yadav was unlucky to miss out after a very good show at recent world cup.

This is India, where class system is deep-rooted and in an elite sport like shooting it would be much more conspicuous. So how can we expect the daughter of an electrician to make main list of Olympics whose entry into this elite sport happened only accidentally because her dad was working for the sports complex that has the shooting range? She is ranked world#1 as of today and probably first such occurrence of keeping elite athlete (not by birth) as reserve in shooting which also awards quota based on world ranking. She won the quota for Olympics, became world# 1 now, pray tell what else she needs to be doing! I guess she has to repeatedly prove herself to make it to next Olympics or just be happy with being part of contingent as reserve.
It would be good see the difference in type of twitter account the number of twitter followers for both. Manu has verified account, Chinki is not.304 followers for Chinki, 72K for Manu.

I guess it pays to be vocal and be trigger friendly in social media

This is not at all that happened though. First of all the rules are very clearly defined even before the qualification process started. And going by what Raninder Singh (the president of NRAI) stated the rules are followed except where there is an aberration of form which was the case in 10m Air rifle women. And I am sorry to say her being world no 1 is largely because of her gold in the recent world cup which is basically, one can say an Indian national championship where none of the qualifying scores shot by the shooters are anywhere near enough for qualifying for a final in the olympics. Now she did participate in all the 4 world cups in 2019 and failed to qualify to the finals in any single world cup. She got the quota through Asian championsips where both Rahi and Manu are ineligible as both of them already got a quota before.

[sameerph]

In her favour, Chiki performed much better in all the domestic trials held this year, much better than her performances in 2019. So, it was really touch and go between her and Manu. Manu's selection also allowed a swap to accomodate Anjum in 50M rifle 3P. So, that may have also played a part.

[arjun2761]

Normally, I would go with the person in better current form especially if it is over the most recent year. (and not just one event). However, this is still an odd year without any real full field competition at the world level, so perhaps going with 2019 form (at full field world level) makes some sense.

[depleter]

In her favour, Chiki performed much better in all the domestic trials held this year, much better than her performances in 2019. So, it was really touch and go between her and Manu. Manu's selection also allowed a swap to accomodate Anjum in 50M rifle 3P. So, that may have also played a part.

But she didn't though? What NRAI takes into consideration for olympic qualification is actually qualifying scores. And Manu had better qualifying scores than Chinki in every trail(4 trails)
1st trail - 582-581
2nd trail - 590-584
3rd trail - 582-579
4th trail - 587-584
Chinki did perform well in the finals of every trail with 1st two trails getting silver(Rahi getting gold in both) while the last 2 trails getting gold.
But unlike 10m counterparts we don't have the depth here to actually look at finals score and decide the selection.

[prasen9]

I think it is touch and go between these folks. But, one thing I do not understand. It is stupid to only take the qualifying scores and not the final scores. If anything the final scores should be weighted more.

[depleter]

I think it is touch and go between these folks. But, one thing I do not understand. It is stupid to only take the qualifying scores and not the final scores. If anything the final scores should be weighted more.

It is the after effect of Rio debacle where only 2 shooters, Jitu Rai in 10m air pistol and Abhinav Bhindra in 10m air rifle qualified for the finals. What they are seeing is first they should qualify for the finals to even have a shot in finals. And it is actually good in departments where we do not have that much depth. But in departments where we have abundant depth it is better to consider the final scores too. Like in all 10m departments. For example take 10m air rifle, which would require one to score above 628 to reach the finals. We have multiple shooters who are averaging above 628. We can take 628 as cut off and then check how they are performing in finals for the final selection. But in 25m pistol women, where the olympic final cut off might be 583-584 we do not have enough strength to look at final scores.

[sameerph]

Yes, Chinki has hit above 583 only in the 2 recent selection trials and too just above at 584. On the other hand, Manu has hit scores of 587, 590, 588 wt least 3-4 times which will easily make the finals in any field. Also Rahi had only 1 score above 583 in last 2 years in the world cup where she qualfied for Tokyo.

So, Manu is more likely to qualify for an olympic final than Rahi and Chinki. But, if they reach the final, Rahi and Chinki are likely to do better than Manu.

So, NRAI decided to pin hopes on Manu with a hope that she will hit form in final too.

[sameerph]

Article on Saurabh Chaudhary as it seems he got covid after last world cup-

Having beaten Covid, Olympic hope Saurabh Chaudhary returns with renewed vigour

He is one of brightest medal prospects at Tokyo. Hope he recovers well.

[sameerph]

This is a good article on Indian shooting contigent currentl in Croatia-

Pre-Olympic jitters for Indian shooting

I think shooting federation is one of the best among the Indian sports federations and in terms of quality of squad, this has been by far the best which is going to olympics. Still, if we wish anything less than 3 medals in shooting at Tokyo, it would be a disappointment.

[sameerph]

So, after that unmitigated disaster in Tokyo, Indian shooting team starts 2022 with a world cup in Cairo, Egypt. We have fielded a revamped team where top 3 shooters from recently held nationals were selected disregarding all the prior reputation. So, many of those from Tokyo Olympics team are missing.

We drew a blank in 10M Air rifle men and women with no-one making the finals although 21 year old Shreya Agarwal missed final by 0.2 points in womens 10M Air rifle.

However, today in 10M air pistol, we won a gold and a silver. Gold for ever consistent Saurabh Chaudhary in mens 10M. He has got back to where he belongs immediately. Hope he gets over that Tokyo disappointment and continues to perform this well.

In Womens 10M Air pistol, 17 year Esha Singh won a silver beating Tokyo olympic gold medalist to bronze. Great that we have yet another talented shooter come up in pistol shooting so young.

[arjun2761]

Saurabh was the biggest disappointment among the shooters. It's not like he wasn't in form as he was the top qualifier in both of his events but couldn't deliver in the finals....