India’s shooters would not let the country down- National Rifle Association of India

Following the shooting team’s failure in Rio five years ago, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) evaluated its Olympic preparations, and its president, Raninder Singh, has high expectations for Tokyo.

If India wants to reach its aim of a double-digit medal haul at the Tokyo Olympics, its shooters must be dead on target, and the federation leader is confident they will live up to the task.

The world’s second-most populous country has had limited success in the Olympics, earning only 13 medals in the previous five editions. The team’s finest performance was the six medals they earned in London in 2012. Shooting has offered India some rare Olympic delight, with Abhinav Bindra’s air rifle gold in Beijing being the country’s lone individual Olympic gold, with the remainder coming from field hockey.

Following the shooting team’s failure in Rio five years ago, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) evaluated its Olympic preparations, and its president, Raninder Singh, has high expectations for Tokyo. “We’ve done all we could in terms of preparation, and the shooters are doing everything they can,” the NRAI president stated. “I can’t estimate how many medals they’ll win, but I know they’ll give it their all and won’t let the country down,” he added.

India’s shooting team of 15 in Tokyo will be the country’s largest at an Olympic Games. The pistol and rifle shooters, including teenage medal contenders Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary, departed for Croatia last week to compete in the ISSF World Cup next month. This week, eight of them are also competing as guest shooters in the European Championship in Osijek. They will compete in the preliminary stages but will not be eligible for the finals, according to Singh.

India’s skeet shooters are in Italy training, and both groups will fly to Tokyo from their separate locations. Except for three shooters who had just recovered from COVID-19, all other team members had gotten their first shot of vaccination and would receive their second at their training bases.

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