Indian shooters take aim to end 8-year-old itch

India drew a blank at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 despite doing well in global events like World Cups

Published on:

27 Jul 2024, 4:32 am

CHATEAUROUX: Almost 300 kilometres away from Paris, reeling under coordinated strikes possibly by leftist militants and environmental activists on its rail network, India will be aiming to end an eight-year-old itch at the Olympic shooting range at this quaint city in central France from Saturday. The shooting competition ends on August 5.

Saboteurs struck France’s TGV high-speed train network in a series of pre-dawn attacks across the country, causing travel chaos and exposing security gaps ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony on Friday, reported news agency Reuters. But the Games will continue as scheduled.

Shooting remains India’s single biggest hope to win medals in double digits for the first time in an Olympics and if form, mind and luck fall in a line perfectly, the Summer Games would have begun well this time.

Despite their high reputation, shooters have drawn a blank in two successive Games – Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. India won a record seven medals in Japan but the hurt of drawing a blank especially in shooting remained a massive scar. Paris 2024 could just be third time lucky. Having trained at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre en route to their Paris 2024 journey, at least 15 members in India’s 21-member shooting squad will find themselves at ‘home’ when competition starts at one of the biggest ranges in Europe that was inaugurated by the French Shooting Federation in 2018.

Not one but two sets of shooters will be vying for medals on Day 1 of the shooting competition. Medals will be decided in the 10-metre air rifle mixed team event and India will pin their hopes on the combination of Sandeep Singh and Elavenil Valarivan and duo of Arjun Babuta and Ramita to qualify for the medal round.

India will have a representation in every 15 events (12 individual and three team) across rifle, pistol and shotgun categories. Purely from a mathematical standpoint, the probability of an Indian shooter in vying for a podium finish is much higher than Tokyo where India had 15 shooters against 21 in Paris. More shooters mean more starts and hence greater the chance of a medal.

“If the Indians can cut out the noise and focus on their job, the results can be overwhelming,” said Gagan Narang, the chef-de-mission of the Indian contingent. Narang will know what pressure means in an Olympic shooting range, having won a 10m air rifle bronze at the 2012 London Olympics. For the four Olympians – Manu Bhaker, Elavenil, Anjum Moudgil and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar -- in the Indian squad, it will be redemption time. And for Manu, who has the capability to become the next shooting icon after Beijing 2008 gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, the campaign starts on Friday with the 10 m air pistol qualifiers. She will have the immensely promising Rhythm Sangwan, a debutant, for company. The Paris 2024 campaign also starts for the immensely potential 10m air pistol shooters – Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Singh Cheema.

Narang says the current crop of shooters are fearless and have a strong mindset to win. “This was not there before. Today, our shooters believe they can win a medal and are no less than anyone in the world. The ecosystem has been also supported this and thus if they can keep their focus, anything is possible,” he said.

Shooting has garnered massive support from the Union sports ministry’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme. In the Paris cycle (2021-2024), shooting has received a funding of Rs 60.42 crore. Ninety-six foreign exposure trips and 45 national camps were supported for the Paris-bound contingent. Several pistol shooters arrived in Chateauroux having spent some quality time acclimatizing at Volmerange-les-Mines in Luxembourg on the French border.

Among the top shooters, the 22-year-old Bhaker received Rs 1.68 crore in funding. A former world champion and a gold medallist in 25m air pistol at the last Asian Games in Hangzhou, Bhaker will grab a lot of attention at Paris 2024.

Unlike Tokyo 2020, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) gave her the permission to train with her personal coach Jaspal Rana, a multiple Asian Games gold medallist, at training camps. “I get courage when I see him,” Bhaker has been quoted as saying.

The NRAI certainly learnt its lessons after back-to-back Olympic debacles in Rio and Tokyo. Well curated domestic schedule in line with the Olympics, multiple trials to keep the shooters on their toes, customized training and a scientific approach where simulation with the Chateauroux environment played a key part, were all part of the revised approach from a strategic standpoint. Shooting, at the end of the day, is an individual sport. Like hockey or football, team bonding and team gameplan don’t work and Olympic dreams like archery, boxing or weightlifting are strictly individual pursuits. They say in shooting that morning shows the day. It has been seen that if a nation starts well on the first couple of days, that winning momentum boosts the morale of the other shooters. There is a complex transformation of energy and belief when individual excellence rubs off on a team as a whole. But then shooting, like precision sports, is all about complexities and the strength of the mind.