On Saturday in Munich, the ISSF World Cup (Pistol/Rifle) will get underway, providing an escape from the stifling Indian summer and a chance for the nation’s shooters to bolster their preparations for the Paris Olympics.
On Saturday in Munich, the ISSF World Cup (Pistol/Rifle) will get underway, providing an escape from the stifling Indian summer and a chance for the nation’s shooters to bolster their preparations for the Paris Olympics. A number of shooters who participated in the demanding trials that lasted almost a month in New Delhi and Bhopal expressed a desire to miss the World Cup due to “fatigue” and concentrate on their Olympic preparations instead. However, the Paris-bound pistol and rifle marksmen would like to use this final competitive outing to assess their Olympic preparations, as the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has made participation in the World Cup mandatory and is reportedly working out the controversial issue of personal coaches with the shooters.
One of the main points of dispute now was the matter of personal coaches. At the national training, the gunmen believed they were receiving little “flexibility” in terms of personal coaching.
The federation made its decision on the day the shooters were leaving for Munich, so even though the problem appears to have been resolved for the time being, many personal coaches would not have gone with their wards.
After four Olympic Selection Trials (OST), a number of shooters replaced the initial Paris quota winners in the national squad. The federation will be interested to see how they fare in the World Cup.
The federations are in a bind after a sudden rise to prominence in the national trials by rookie Army man Sandeep Singh, who eliminated former world champion and Paris quota winner Rudrankksh Patil from consideration for the Olympics.
The federation will have to strictly adhere to its Olympic selection policy, which is to choose the Paris-bound team based on the OSTs, as a deviation could cause more headaches in the form of lawsuits for the NRAI, even though the 20-year-old Rudrankksh is one of the best 10m air rifle shooters the country has produced after Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra.
There was never a situation like this one where Olympic quota winners, having lost to fellow countrymen in the trials, wrote to the federation to be considered for Paris.
While the shooters compete in the World Cup, the NRAI can also designate the Olympic contingent—a process that has previously been postponed. India is still having trouble naming its shooting contingent at a time when many other nations have revealed their squads headed for Paris.
Strangely, shooters require a great deal of time to complete the final adjustments, which includes testing ammunition, which is the most important practice for competitions like the Olympics and World Championships.
This World Cup may give shooters a chance to get in touch with European producers and test the ammunition they want to use in the forthcoming Olympics.
The 10m air rifle competition for men and women will open the World Cup. On Monday, the two competitions’ finals will take place.
Men’s competitors in the 10m air rifle event will include Sandeep Singh, Arjun Babuta, and Rudrankksh Patil. Women’s competitors in the same event will be Elavenil Valarivan, Ramita, and Tilottama Sen.
