Manu, Rudrankksh to double start, Anish lone rapid shooter in Asian Games shooting squad

PUNE: Olympics double medallist Manu Bhaker, former World Champion Rudrankksh Patil will start in two events at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4. Anish Bhanwal will be the only shooter to represent India in men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event.As TOI had reported earlier, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) focused on multitaskers for the Asiad squad as each country has a cap of sending only 30 shooters for 36 spots.

Manu will shoot in women’s 10m air pistol and 25m pistol events. While the Paris Games medallist is ranked 2nd in the 25m event, she was picked in the three-woman 10m air pistol team despite being seventh in the ranking after completion of Trial 4 in Dehradun, recently.

In the 10m event, Manu will shoot with Suruchi Phogat and Esha Singh, while Rahi Sarnobat will join Esha and Manu in 25m pistol event.Likewise, Rudrankksh, who was fourth in the 10m air rifle event, has been picked for event, along with men’s 50m rifle 3position event. Placed fourth in the rankings, Vidarsa Vinod has been selected to shoot in women’s 10m air rifle and 50m rifle 3 position events (ranked 2nd).Meanwhile, to maintain the 30-shooters cap, the NRAI decided to name only one shooter for the men's 25m rapid fire pistol event.

“It was a tough but unanimous decision as we had the challenge of picking fewer shooters for more events, considering the medal chances. Since the 10m air pistol has more medal chances, as it also has a mixed event category, we had to cut two shooters from rapid fire,” NRAI secretary general Pawan Singh told TOI.“In some cases, we had to include strong shooters like Manu, in the team as she has experience of shooting in two events, despite being low in one of the two events,” Singh added.Squad: Rifle (Men) 10m air rifle: Parth Rakesh Mane, Himanshu Dhillon, Rudrankksh Patil; 50m rifle 3-positions: Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Niraj Kumar, Rudrankksh Patil; (Women) 10m air rifle: Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Uttam Maskar, Vidarsa K Vinod; 50m rifle 3-positions: Ashi Chouksey, Vidarsa K Vinod, Tilottama Sen; (10m air rifle mixed team) Parth Rakesh Mane and Elavenil Valarivan.Pistol (Men) 10m air pistol: Kedarling B Uchaganve, Gaurav, Kamaljeet; 25m rapid fire: Anish Bhanwala; (Women) 10m air pistol: Suruchi, Esha Singh, Manu Bhaker; 25m sports pistol: Esha Singh, Manu Bhaker, Rahi Sarnobat; (10m air pistol mixed team) Kedarling B Uchaganve and Suruchi.