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New Delhi: The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) announced the rifle/pistol squad for the 20th Asian Games which will be held from September 19 to October 4 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. The 12-member shotgun squad was named earlier as India will take the maximum allowed number of athletes for shooting, which is 30. The squads for the ISSF World Cup in Hangzhou, China, next month and the ISSF World Cup Cairo, Egypt in October were also announced.
Esha Singh and Manu Bhaker will be competing in both pistol events while Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil and Vidarsa K. Vinod will be competing in both rifle events. The team for the major event was selected based on NRAI’s selection policy and the national rankings after the recently concluded National Selection Trials 4.
Rudrankksh will be joined by teenagers Parth Rakesh Mane and Himanshu Dhillon in the 10m Rifle Event while Niraj Kumar and World Championship medallist Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar will join Rudrankksh in the 50m Rifle 3Positions event.
In the women’s rifle events, Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Uttam Maskar and Vidarsa K. Vinod will compete in 10m Air Rifle while Vidarsa will be joined by Ashi Chouksey and Tilottama Sen in the 50m 3 Positions event.
Double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker and the 2022 Asian Games double medallist and Esha Singh will be competing in both 10m Air Pistol and 25m Pistol events. World Number 2, Suruchi Inder Singh will be the third athlete in the 10m event, making it a brilliant trio for the event which will also have team medals on offer.
Joining Manu and Esha in the 25m pistol event will be 2018 Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat. In the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event, India’s hopes will be on Anish Bhanwala who is the only shooter named in the squad.
In the 10m Air Pistol men’s event India will be represented by Kedarling Balakrishna Uchaganve, Gaurav and Kamaljeet.
The mixed team events will see Parth and Elavenil in the 10m Air Rifle event while Suruchi and Kedarling will pair up in the 10m Air Pistol event.
India won a total of 22 medals including seven gold, nine silver and six bronze in the previous edition of the Asian Games to finish second behind China.
Indian squad for the 20th Asian Games
Men
10m Air Rifle: Parth Rakesh Mane, Himanshu Dhillon, Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil
50m Rifle 3P: Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Niraj Kumar, Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil
10m Air Pistol: Kedarling Balakrishna Uchaganve, Gaurav, Kamaljeet
25m Rapid Fire Pistol: Anish Bhanwala
Women
10m Air Rifle: Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Uttam Maskar, Vidarsa K. Vinod
50m Rifle 3P: Ashi Chouksey, Vidarsa K. Vinod, Tilottama Sen
10m Air Pistol: Suruchi Inder Singh, Esha Singh, Manu Bhaker
25m Pistol: Esha Singh, Manu Bhaker, Rahi Sarnobat
Mixed Team
10m Air Rifle: Parth Rakesh Mane and Elavenil Valarivan
10m Air Pistol: Suruchi Inder Singh and Kedarling Balakrishna Uchaganve
SHOTGUN
Trap Men: Kynan Chenai, Ahvar Rizvi, Shapath Bharadwaj
Trap Women: Neeru Dhanda, Manisha Keer, Aashima Ahlawat
Skeet Men: Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Bhavtegh Singh Gill, Mairaj Ahmad Khan
Skeet Women: Parinaazz Dhaliwal, Raiza Dhillon, Maheshwari Chauhan
Trap Mixed Team: Kynan Chenai, Neeru Dhanda
Skeet Mixed Team: Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Parinaaz Dhaliwal
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