The ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol has reached the halfway stage and India has managed to secure three medals — 2 gold and 1 silver medal so far. While the gold medals came in the mixed team events where there are no Olympic quota places on offer, Diyvansh Panwar’s silver medal in the men's 10m air rifle event earned the country its fourth Tokyo 2020 Olympic berth in shooting.
India has a chance to seal another five Olympic berths at the World Cup in Beijing as there are three remaining qualifying events over the next three days.
- 10m air pistol men: Arjun Cheema Singh, Shahzar Rizvi, Abhishek Verma
- 25m pistol women: Manu Bhaker, Rahi Sarnobat, Chinki Yadav
- 50m rifle 3 positions women: Sunidhi Chauhan, Gaayathri Nithyanadam, Kajal Saini
READ | ISSF Rifle and Pistol Shooting World Cup: Panwar bags Tokyo 2020quota, silver in 10m Air Rifle final
Since Saurabh Chaudhary has already secured an Olympic berth in the 10m air pistol during the World Cup in New Delhi, he will be competing in the MQS category. The other three Indians will be vying for remaining one Olympic quota in the 10m air pistol event.
In all, India can secure a maximum of 16 quota places in the air rifle/pistol individual categories for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. It has so far secured four.
There were an additional 12 quota places (six per NOC) up for grabs for the mixed team events ( 4 rifle, 4 pistol and 4 trap) during the World Championships in Changwon (Korea) last year, but India couldn't secure any.
Ironically, when there are no longer any quota place available for the mixed team events, India has secured three gold medals in the two ISSF World Cups so far. India will now have rely on individual qualifications to send shooters for the mixed team events.
While each World Cup ( four in a year) usually offers 16 quota places, the World Cups in Beijing and Munich were re-assigned an extra quota place ( 2 + 1 ) in the men's 25m rapid fire pistol to compensate for the non-allocation in New Delhi. With the Indian government denying visas for Pakistan shooters, the ISSF revoked the quota places for the men's 25m rapid fire pistol event in which the Pakistan shooter were scheduled to compete.
Even then, India was aiming for a maximum of 13 quota places in Beijing, having already secured three spots at the World Championships in Korea (two) and the year's first World Cup in New Delhi (1).
As on Friday ( April 26), India has secured four Olympic berths through Anjum Moudgil, Apurvi Chandeli, Saurabh Chaudhary and Divyansh Panwar.
READ |ISSF World Cup: Manu, Heena fail to make the final
While Moudgil and Chandela secured the maximum available quota in the women's 10m air rifle women at last year's World Championships, Choudhary earned a quota place for India in the men's 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol in New Delhi earlier this year. On Friday, Panwar sealed India's entry in the men's 10m air rifle category.
It is to be kept in mind that the shooters can only secure berths for the country, not for themselves. It is the prerogative of the National federations (NOC), National Rifle Association of India in this case, to finalise the participants for the Olympics based on the form of their shooters or via selection trials. However, there are 12 World Ranking Quota places (one each in individual categories) that are granted directly to the shooters instead of the NOCs.
There are two more World Cups in Germany (Munich - May 24-31) and Brazil (Rio de Janeiro - Aug 26-Sept. 3 where the shooters in rifle and pistol category can seal their country’s Olympic berth.
Even if India fails to secure all its quota places(16) at the end of the four World Cups, the shooters will have another opportunity at the Asian Championships in Qatar later in the year.
In shotgun category (Trap and skeet), India still hasn't secured a single Olympic quota at the end of two World Cups ( Mexico and UAE) and a World Championships. A total of eight Olympic quota places are up for grabs in the individual categories and the shooters will get an opportunity to aim for them at the World Cups in Korea ( Changwon) and Finland (Lahti) and the Asian Championships in Qatar.
Overall, each NOC can field a maximum of 30 athletes for the 15 shooting events at the Tokyo Olympic Games next year.
Current Olympic quota status for India
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