Paris Olympics 2024: NRAI announces names for women’s air pistol selection trials
The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has unveiled the names of the shooters who will be a part of the Olympic selection trials in two sets of events, women’s air pistol and sports pistol, ahead of the Paris Olympics 2024.
For selecting the best shooters for Paris, notably, a total of four shooting selection trials will take place. The first set of two trials will be held at Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad from Friday, April 19, while the other two will be staged in Bhopal in May.
Commonwealth Games 2018 gold medallist Manu Bhaker has taken the spotlight as NRAI has announced Asian Games gold medallist Palak Gulia, Surbhi Rao, Rhythm Sangwan, and Esha Singh for the women’s air pistol event.
Notably, on April 14, Palak Gulia secured the bronze medal in the women’s 10m air pistol at the ISSF Final Olympic Qualification Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and clinched India’s 20th spot in shooting for the Paris Olympics 2024.
Interestingly, Rhythm Sangwan, Esha Singh, and Manu Bhaker are the only three shooters who will be a part of the two sets of events, air pistol and sports pistol.
The initial set of two trials, which will take place in Delhi, will start with 25m events - Women’s sports pistol and men’s rapid-fire pistol.
Each country can obtain a maximum of 24 quotas in shooting for Paris Olympics 2024
It’s important to note that India has clinched the maximum possible 16 Olympic quota places in rifle and pistol events. The remaining four shooting quotas are in shotgun events. Remarkably, a total of 37 shooters will be in contention to secure their berths for Paris Olympics 2024.
The national governing body has come up with a selection policy to choose the best for the Summer Games. The best three scores will be taken into consideration along with a few other important factors.
Eventually, the selection committee will finalize the names for the Paris Games. Each country can obtain a maximum of 24 quotas in shooting for the Paris Olympics, with eight available in rifle and as many in pistol and shotgun events.
The shooting events at the mega event in Paris will take place between July 27 and August 5 at the National Shooting Center in Chateauroux.