The Indian shooting team, like several other Asian squads, will be at a disadvantage at the ISSF World Championship in Doha, with the competition beginning this week.
As was the case with the Wrestling Worlds, India too has sent a squad with members of the Asian Games team that went to Nagoya. With little time to rest, the team is a mix of the Asian Games group usually expected to be the first names on any squad list, followed by an inexperienced group of shooters who performed well enough at the multiple domestic trials but have had limited exposure to competitions outside the country.
The timing of the Asian Games has meant that European countries will come to Doha in a fresher state of mind. The World Championships will also officially be the start of the qualification cycle for the Los Angeles Olympics. Three quota spots will be on offer in each of the 12 individual Olympic events.
“There is no turnaround time,” admitted Indian shooting’s high-performance director Pierre Beauchamp. “If you look at the Olympics and Asian Games, it takes several months for people to psychologically and emotionally recover. And there’s no recovery time. So for European teams, this is a huge advantage, because there will be over 100 countries there that will go up.”
The short turnaround affected some of the Indian wrestlers – particularly Sujeet Kalkal, who couldn’t train after his gold medal at the Asian Games and was undercooked for the Worlds. With some of India’s best shooters, the challenge is similar.
Take the case of Manu Bhaker. India’s double Olympic bronze medallist failed to win a medal in either the 10m or 25m pistol events at Nagoya, but is now one of the established names along with Suruchi Phogat in a pistol team that is largely untested barring the duo. Beauchamp said that the coaches and physios have tried to deal with the constraints.
“When you’re not completely recovered, there’s a cognitive deficit and you need to find a way to re-energise yourself. So we’ve had several workshops with the athletes about what their focus points are. Coaches are doing debriefs on a regular basis, helping them to set meaningful goals, so that they can reset quickly,” he says. “There’s only so much you can do.”
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Fresh names
Other than the duo, the 10m pistol teams on both the men’s and women’s sides are largely untested. Kamaljeet Sohlot, whose first big-ticket event was the Nagoya Asiad, where he won mixed-team gold with Suruchi, leads the men’s team along with first-timers Ravin Kumar and Jaypal Malviya.
The third shooter in the women’s 10m team, Sainyam Vij, exemplifies the churn within the team. Bhaker, Suruchi and Esha Singh are all within the top 15 in the world, and that lends itself to fewer chances in the bigger events, especially in the 10m pistol. But the proximity of the events means that, in the end, a good average in the trials can open the door to an opportunity — one that Vij has put herself in a position to take.
Quota Hunt
Winning an Olympic quota in her event also comes with perks domestically. Under the rejigged Olympic Selection Trials for selecting the squad for the LA Olympics, winning a quota comes with a bonus point that gets added along with the average score at the trials. In a hotly contested discipline, it all could add up. Vij might be new to the locales of a World Championships, but she knows how this plays out.
“The competition in this game is with yourself, so you need to be better than yourself from before. I don’t focus on anybody, what they are doing, what they are shooting, what’s their score. I focus on my mind that I have to improve my score. I know what scores will help me get into the team, or what scores are enough to get into the finals,” says Vij.
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India had stitched together 22 quotas ahead of the Paris Olympics. It was a marked improvement from the 12 they had earned ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics, and the 15 they had at Tokyo.
Beauchamp said the aim is to pick up as many quotas as possible and get to that magical number of 24 — but a smooth beginning might not be a given.
“You need to demonstrate patience, belief in your team and belief in the country that we will come through by the time we get there,” said India’s HPD. “If you remember the last cycle, we were missing a quota for the women’s pistol. We sent a group to Rio and they achieved the quota at that. So we have all of this on the calendar. It’s all there and we’re planning for it.”
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India’s new faces
When Samrat Rana made his World Championships debut at the previous edition, few would have expected him to go on to win gold. Yet two years later, Rana is not part of India’s team, nor is Paris Olympics bronze medallist Sarabjot Singh. It is another example of the churn that has become commonplace in Indian shooting, particularly in the pistol events.
10m Men’s Team
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Perhaps nothing exemplifies the frequency of change better than the 10m pistol team. 24-year-old Ravin Kumar will make his international debut in Doha – and it will also be his first time travelling abroad, having taken his first-ever flight to reach the World Championships.
Then there is 31-year-old Jaypal Malviya, who will be competing at only his second international event. Both Malviya and Kumar earned their places in the team through their performances in the domestic trials, with their averages enough to secure a place on the flight to Doha.
25m Rapid Fire Pistol
Gurmeet Singh, who finished seventh at the Rio Olympics, returns to the national team after almost a decade. Suraj Sharma, who made his senior international debut only this year, is also part of the squad, with Bhavesh Shekhawat completing the team.
