Decoding Chinki Yadav’s omission from team

The omission of Chinki Yadav, the reigning world No.1 in sports pistol, after she had won the World Cup gold in Delhi in March, beating Rahi Sarnobat and Manu Bhaker, may have been perplexing to say the least.

Published : May 13, 2021 19:42 IST , New Delhi

Shooter Chinki Yadav practising at the Madhya Pradesh Shooting Academy in Bhopal.
Shooter Chinki Yadav practising at the Madhya Pradesh Shooting Academy in Bhopal.
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Shooter Chinki Yadav practising at the Madhya Pradesh Shooting Academy in Bhopal.

One swallow does not make a summer. Even if you are World No.1, it does not cut much ice with the stringent Olympic selection policy of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).

The omission of Chinki Yadav, the reigning world No.1 in sports pistol, after she had won the World Cup gold in Delhi in March, beating Rahi Sarnobat and Manu Bhaker, may have been perplexing to say the least.

More so, when the Asian Games gold medallist Rahi and the 19-year-old Manu got the nod to shoot the event in Tokyo.

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The 23-year-old Chinki, who had won the Olympic quota with a good score of 588 out of 600 in the Asian Championship, even though she finished sixth in the final, was quite relaxed about Olympic selection, after her golden fare.

Rahi, who has won two World Cup gold medals in 2013 and 2019, put things in perspective. "I was very happy with the way Chinki performed in the Delhi World Cup. She was not performing that great when the selection policy had started collecting scores for a year or two," reasoned Rahi, who had lost the gold to Chinki in the shoot-off after a tie in a spectacular final.

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In the four World Cups in 2019, Chinki had scores of 584, 580, 571 and 570. A tenth placing was her best.

Manu was the undisputed No.1 in the country with her consistently high scores in the event, even though she had no World Cup medal to show  till she won the bronze. Rahi and Chinki were almost identical with their averages.

"It is important to have consistently high performances in international competitions for a year or two. Otherwise, it is not easy to survive in the Olympic atmosphere under pressure. For Olympics, you need more than one or two good performances, for sure," said Rahi.

She was very pleased with the intensity of competition at home, and felt that it pushed the overall standard high.

"I want to see her as a team-mate in future, in such high level competitions," said Rahi.

Air pistol world No.1 and a lawyer by profession, Abhishek Verma felt that there was no room for debate, as the national federation had "strictly followed the laid down selection policy’’.

"It was a fair decision," opined Abhishek, taking all aspects into consideration as a true professional.

When you notice that World Championship silver medallist and the current world No.3 Anjum Moudgil could not gain Olympic selection in women’s air rifle individual event for Tokyo, you are left with no option but to silently admire the strength of Indian shooting! And the camaraderie in the team.

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