Shooting World Cup: Chinese challenge awaits India
The last time the ISSF Shooting World Cup was held at home – in New Delhi, March 2020 – India’s rifle and pistol contingents bore the look of seasoned world beaters, confidence buttressed by their consistent reign at the top of world rankings. A lot has changed since those heady days of boundless promise when an assembly line of teenagers would shoot barely-believable scores at a great frequency. It was too good to be true, and turned out that way.
The chastening meltdown, triggered in no small measure by the Covid break, stood out at the Asaka Shooting Range in Tokyo when the world beaters were shown the mirror. For the second Olympics running, Indian shooters returned medal-less. Few from that lot have survived, and when the likes of Anjum Moudgil, Divyansh Singh Panwar, Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar, Manu Bhaker and Yashaswini Singh Deswal begin their campaign at the Madhya Pradesh State Shooting Academy this week, a homecoming warm enough to ease the pain of Tokyo is what they'll aim for.
The post-Tokyo churn has thrown up exciting prospects and a world champion. Besides the experienced Manu Bhaker, India's hopes will rest heavily on Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil, only the second 10m rifle shooter from the country – Abhinav Bindra was the first – to become world champion. The former world No 1 is in decent form, having shot gold at last month's Cairo World Cup where he beat world No 1 Maximilian Ulbrich and world No 3 Miran Maricic.
That competition also saw Tomar win gold in the taxing 50m 3-Position event. The world No 2, like Patil, beat the world No 1 and 3 for the top finish. Bhaker turned around her dismal Olympics with a remarkable 2022 that saw her complete a golden hat-trick at the nationals in Bhopal besides winning a world championships silver (25m team women). She will compete in both the 10m and 25m pistol events.
While home advantage will be a factor, India will be challenged by powerhouse China whose shooters had skipped Cairo. At the World Championships last year, Chinese shooters flaunted their outrageous depth, bagging a total of (seniors and juniors) 58 medals, 28 of them gold. India, with 35 medals, were a distant second. At the Tokyo Olympics, China won 11 of a possible 45 medals. No other nation could log double digits.
With 37 shooters, China will have the joint-largest contingent in Bhopal besides India, though they seem to be using the tournament as a training ground for their talented juniors. The 19-year-old rifle shooter Du Linshu, who won seven medals, including five gold, in the junior category at last year's Cairo worlds, will make his senior debut in Bhopal.
Huang Yuting, still only 16, is already a three-time world championships medallist. Yuting won two gold, in 10m air rifle mixed team and women's team events, and an individual 10m silver in Cairo last year. Lihao Sheng, 18, who won the men’s 10m air rifle silver at the Tokyo Olympics, will be among Rudrankksh's prime challengers as he aims to add to his Wroclaw 2021 silver.
Liu Jinyao and Lu Kaiman, the 10m pistol world champion in men and women respectively, will be the ones the likes of Varun Tomar and Manu Bhaker must challenge.
Other prominent names include Frenchman Jean Quiquampoix, Olympic champion in 25m rapid fire pistol and Germany’s Christian Reitz, who won gold in the event at the 2016 Rio Games, and the women’s air rifle world champion Alison Marie Weisz of the USA. Quiquampoix will be the only Olympic champion in Bhopal, a possible fallout of the World Cups no longer offering Olympic quota places.
The French squad includes Clement Bessaguet, silver medallist at the Cairo worlds last year, and Lamolle Mathilde, who won the women’s 25m pistol event at last month's Cairo World Cup.
The opening day of the competition will witness men’s and women’s 10m air pistol events. Sarabjot Singh, Varun Tomar and Sumit Raman go first among the men while Rhythm Sangwan, Divya TS and Manu Bhaker will be in contention among the women.
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