Saurabh Chaudhary was the lone Indian to secure an Olympic quota berth for the Tokyo 2020 Games at the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol 2019 in New Delhi. The young shooter set a new world record score to clinch the men's 10m air pistol gold and seal an Olympic berth for the country.
Apurvi Chandela also clinched a gold in the 10m air rifle, but India, through Chandela and Anjum Moudgil, had already secured the maximum possible quota places (two) in the category at the World Championships last year.
ISSF World Cup, Day 4: Key highlights
Initially, 16 Olympic quota places were up for grabs at the ongoing World Cup of the year, but India's standoff with Pakistan meant the country couldn't grant visas to the Pakistan shooters. The IOC came down hard on the host and threatened to make it a no-quota World Cup, but restricted the withdrawal to two Olympic quota places in 25m rapid fire pistol — the event where Pakistan shooters were scheduled to compete. Since India had already secured two Olympic quotas in women's 10m air rifle category, shooters were vying for the remaining 12 quota places of which India managed to secure just one.
There are three more World Cup events scheduled to be held this year where 16 quota places will be on offer ( two each in every category except mixed team events) for the rifle/pistol categories. Apart from that, Indians will have the opportunity to secure Olympic berths in the Asian Championship in Doha in November. The ISSF has been asked to make a proposal to IOC on how the two available Olympic quota places in the men's 25m rapid pistol event will be reassigned.
Events where India can seal Olympic quota places in the rifle/pistol category:
Quota allocation in every World Cup with respect to the events:
- 10m air rifle men: 2
- 10m air rifle women: 2
- 10m air pistol men: 2
- 10m air pistol women: 2
- 25m rapid pistol men: 2
- 25m pistol women( Rapid and precision): 2
- 50m rifle 3 positions men: 2
- 50m rifle 3 positions women: 2
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