DOHA (Qatar): India will be hoping to clinch four to five Olympic quotas that are on offer in the 14th Asian Championships at the Losail Shooting range.
The ten-day championship, organised by Qatar Shooting and Archery Association, is the last Olympic qualification event for the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Thirty-eight Olympic quota places are up for grabs in the continental tournament for the Asian shooters at the Doha event.
Panwar Divyansh Singh (10m Air Rifle Men), Rajput Sanjeev (50m Rifle 3 Positions Men), Saurabh Chaudhary and Verma Abhishek (10m Air Pistol Men), Chandela Apurvi and Moudgil Anjum (10m Air Rifle Women), Bhaker Manu, Deswal Yashaswini Singh (10m Air Pistol Women) and Sarnobat Rahi (25m Pistol Women) have already qualified for the Tokyo Games.
“We are targeting four to five places,” said Nimit Chopra, National Rifle Association of India Assistant Secretary.
India will be competing in the junior and senior categories of men, women, boys and girls events.
“The future of Indian shooting looks bright,” claims Chopra.
“We’ve a lot of promising shooters who can replace the seniors. This is a good sign for the sport in India,” he added.
Trap, skeet among disciplines for quota places
The top three finishers in each of the shotgun, rifle and pistol events will gain quota spots or outright qualification to Tokyo.
Participants in Trap Men, Skeet Men, Trap Women, Skeet Women, 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team, 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team, 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men and 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women will fight it out to book a ticket.
Over 1,500 shooters from 34 countries will be seen in action in the competition that starts on Monday.
Shooters from 10 Asian countries have already clinched 69 quotas for the Tokyo Games from different events, and 38 more will be added after this competition.
Qatar are fielding 135 shooters that include some youngsters in junior events in both the boys and girls section.
