Indian Shooting thread

[Sin Hombre]

1 skeet 1 trap finalist is pretty good at the shotgun WC.

Hopefully we choose the only shooters who can occasionally be world class in these events.

[sameerph]

NRAI has stuck with their announced policy and picked the team based on their rankings ( trials and international results combined) and disregarded recent world cup finalists Bhowneesh and Ganemat-

NRAI announces Indian shotgun squad for Paris 2024 Olympics

[jayakris]

In other words, they are not too smart and screwed up, right? (I keep waiting to see if any of our Federations would do something smart. Hence the question)

[sameerph]

I am not so sure in this case. This guy Bhowneesh was great in world championships 2022 and won a quota for us there. Then, did not do anything at all for 2 years and suddenly came us this week and did well in the world cup. So, do they select him on the basis of that. Not so much of inconsistency from Ganemat but she too failed in the earlier events at trials which counted for rankings.

Probably, Bhowneesh and Ganemat are type of shooters who can be world class on their day but are not consistent. So, I do not how the federation will set an objective selection policy for that.

[jayakris]

^^^ Okay, it looks like we need to give the NRAI a pass on this and not blame them...

[Sin Hombre]

I disagree with sameer on this.

This is not pistol or rifle. Outside of these 2, none of our other shooters have ever shown they can shoot the minimum required to qualify to the Olympics or WC finals.

The only shooters we should even consider are those who have shown that they can occasionally meet that minimum bar.

In trap, you need to score 123 to qualify to the finals. What’s the point of selecting someone who is more consistent at shooting 118s or 119s but can never go past 121

[sameerph]

Yes, but in that case, they would have had to say that the selection will be subjective and could not have set any criteria like trials. Or in the end they could have just said that trials and announced criteria are set aside in these specific cases and selectors decision is final.

In either case, it could have invited criticism and maybe court cases from some of the shooters who would not have been selected.

[Sin Hombre]

Selection is objective. Pick the top shooter from the trials who has met minimum qualifying standard like 123 for trap in an international competition in the last 2 years.

[jayakris]

^^^ In that case, if they can have a good objective criterion like you said (which actually makes sense to me) but they only use some crappy criteria, then NRAI deserves to be blamed for stupidity, as in the case of most of our federations in player selections. (You guys keep me vacillating )

[Sin Hombre]

It is super frustrating. We had 2 outside chance prospects in shotgun events who on their best day will qualify to the Olympics finals. And now we have people who will be fighting for a spot in the teens at best.

[indiansportsfan]

Agree; given that we have very low chances of medalling in shotgun events, we should have selected folks with a high ceiling to maximize our chances. Better to have 1% chance than to have none.

[prasen9]

We can create an objective criterion.

If there is only one person who achieves above an Olympics medaling level, that person is selected. If nobody achieves that, then someone who achieves the highest individual score in any international tournament is selected. We can also have a recency requirement for this, e.g., last 3 months, then we go and check last 6 months, and if still nobody, then the last year, etc.

If multiple people achieve that, then we can have a points/rating system to reward various factors such as consistency, recent form, ability to handle pressure, etc. with perhaps ability to handle pressure and recent form rated higher (in order of preference).

[sameerph]

Shreyashi Singh has been added to Indian shooting squad in women's trap event after ISSF approved the quota swap request from NRAI to replace one of the quotas earned in womens pistol which is not necessary due to Manu Bhakar being double starter.

So, now have full representation (2) in all events except mens trap, mens skeet and skeet mixed team where we have only 1 representative. We will have total of 27 entries out of maximum allowable of 30, same level as China and US and comfortably ahead of everyone else.

China picked up as many as 11 medals in Tokyo and US 6. if we come even somewhat lower and pick up 3 it will be great.

[srini]

I don’t blame NRAI for sticking to the objective selection policy but the selection policy itself.

Fundamental flaws in shotgun selection are : the trials being spread over a time and giving undue weightage to International tournaments for more than a year or so.
Flaws in Rifle and Pistol selection : Not giving enough weightage to final scores.

NRAI can claim to be following an objective selection policy in comparison to our other federations but in terms of stupidity , their selections have been at par Indian standards until Tokyo Olympics. Actually federations like wrestling have achieved comparable results with subjective policies.

Overall I think the NRAI selection policy has improved for Rifle and Pistol in this Olympics and i do expect some medals there but nothing in shotgun where selection continues to be as faulty as ever.

[jayakris]

^^^ But if there is any improvement at all from the Federations' side, even if only in some areas, that is all good news to hear. We are just taking too long to get many of our Federations up to snuff for a country that takes sports seriously. Like, when will we ever hear of some positive change from AITA or AIFF? I forget when I last heard of something... anything!