India names 15-member shooting team for Tokyo Olympics

Tokyo Olympics: While Manu Bhaker will represent the Indian team in three events, Anjum Moudgil has been deprived of a chance to compete in air rifle.

Competing in her second Olympics, Apurvi Chandela will hope to bag her first medal at the Tokyo Games- AP

World Championship silver medallist Anjum Moudgil has been deprived of a chance to compete in air rifle in the Tokyo Olympics, and the honour has been bestowed on World No.1 Elavenil Valarivan. In a selection committee meeting held for about five hours on Sunday afternoon, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) opted to swap the quota won by Chinki Yadav in women’s 25-metre sports pistol for Moudgil to help her compete in the rifle 3-position event alongside Tejaswini Sawant. Yadav had won gold in the recent World Cup. Moudgil will also get to shoot in the mixed air rifle event along with Deepak Kumar. Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar have been named as the first team for mixed air rifle. Manu Bhaker will shoot air pistol and sports pistol apart from the mixed air pistol event with Saurabh Chaudhary. Olympian Apurvi Chandela who had a phenomenal 2019, winning two World Cup gold medals, will shoot only air rifle and not the mixed event.

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"The National selection committee’s main focus was to select the strongest squad for the Games and to ensure that the most consistent performers in each event, during the Olympic cycle, do not miss out. We are confident that this selection will deliver," said the president of NRAI, Raninder Singh, in a statement. The reserves have been announced for each event, considering the uncertain global scenario with the pandemic. The reserves will get to train on par with the Olympic bound athletes in the run up to the Games.  

The Indian shooting team for Tokyo 2020MEN 10m air rifle: Divyansh Singh Panwar, Deepak Kumar. Reserves: Sandeep Singh, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar. 50m rifle 3-position: Sanjeev Rajput, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar. Reserves: Swapnil Kusale, Chain Singh. 10m air pistol: Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma. Reserves: Shahzar Rizvi, Om Prakash Mitharval. Skeet: Angad Vir Singh Bajwa, Mairaj Ahmad Khan. Reserves: Gurjoat Singh Khangura, Sheeraz Sheikh. WOMEN 10m air rifle: Apurvi Chandela, Elavenil Valarivan. Reserves: Anjum Moudgil, Shreya Agrawal. 50m rifle 3-position: Anjum Moudgil, Tejaswini Sawant. Reserves: Sunidhi Chauhan, Gaayathri Nithyanandam. 10m air pistol: Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini Singh Deswal. Reserves: P Shri Nivetha, Shweta Singh. 25m sports pistol: Rahi Sarnobat, Manu Bhaker. Reserves: Chinki Yadav, Abhidnya Patil. MIXED TEAM10m air rifle: Divyansh Singh Panwar, Elavenil Valarivan; Deepak Kumar, Anjum Moudgil. 10m air pistol: Saurabh Chaudhary, Manu Bhaker; Abhishek Verma, Yashaswini Singh Deswal.