Shooting squad for Commonwealth Games announced

The NRAI has also finalised teams for World Cups in rifle, pistol and shotgun, apart from junior squads for the first half of the season.

The selectors were able to constructively utilise the quota of 15 men and 12 women to make a strong squad. (File Photo)

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) announced a 27-member Indian shooting team, on Tuesday, for the Commonwealth Games to be staged in Gold Coast, Australia, in April.

With shooters like Chain Singh, Jitu Rai, Omprakash Mitharwal, Anjum Moudgil, Tejaswini Sawant, Heena Sidhu and Shreyasi Singh competing in more than one event, the selectors were able to constructively utilise the quota of 15 men and 12 women to make a strong squad.

It may be noted that the organisers of the Commonwealth Games had cut the quota of participants for all countries recently, and thus Indian shooting got a reduced quota of 27 from an earlier allocation of 30.

‘’We have gone strictly by performance and merit, as usual. Given the reduced quota for the Commonwealth Games, it was tough to leave out a few shooters who had shot consistently well over the considered period. We went for consistent top ranks across multiple events. We believe that we have a quality squad to match up and even better our performances of yesteryears’’, said the president of NRAI, Raninder Singh.

It was a marathon selection meeting on Monday, and the NRAI was quite thoughtful in giving chance to the juniors if they merited selection, instead of fielding them in the Junior World Cup.

The NRAI also finalised teams for World Cups in rifle, pistol and shotgun, apart from junior squads for the first half of the season.