Paris: The first shot at a medal by the 117-member Indian contingent will come in “far away” Chateauroux, a small town of under 50,000 citizens, approximately 300 kms south of Paris, when India’s 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team pairings of Olympian Elavenil Valarivan and Sandeep Singh and Ramita and Arjun Babuta, take aim on Saturday.
The qualification rounds begin at 12:30 pm Indian Standard Time (IST) and the top four combined scores after each of the two shooters in a team fire 30 shots each, make it to the medal rounds at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre.
The two Indian pairs will be up against it as there are several strong teams in the 28-strong detail including the crack Chinese pairing of Du Lingshu and Han Jiayu, who would be looking to defend the title for their national. Mary Carolynn Tucker of the USA, the silver medallist from Tokyo will be with a new partner in Ryan Kissel, while the hosts France, with Manon Herbulot and Romain Aufrere in their ranks, is also sure to come hard.
Speaking ahead of D-day, Dr. Pierre Beauchamp, the High-Performance Director of the team, said, “The team is in a good space and have been training and preparing hard. I don’t see any reason why we should not have a bright start to the Paris Games.”
The qualification round will be followed by the bronze medal match between the third and fourth-placed teams (2 pm IST) and then the top two meet for the gold.
Air Pistol shooters to also begin campaign
Day One of the shooting competitions will also see four other Indians in action when Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwan and Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Cheema shoot the qualification rounds of the women’s and men’s 10m Air Pistol respectively. Those two finals are lined up for Sunday.
The 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event will give out the first medals of the Paris Games, where shooting will be making its 28th appearance. A total of 170 men and 170 women athletes will be vying for 15 gold medals across the Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun disciplines, where no country can field more than two athletes/teams per event. There are 12 individual events and three mixed team events, which will start on Saturday and continue till August 5.
India have a squad of 21 shooters at the Paris Games with a total of 26 starts.
(IANS)
