Paris Olympics 2024: Anantjeet Singh Naruka headlines India's five-member shotgun contingent

All five members of shotgun team will be making their Olympic debut.

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has announced India’s shotgun contingent for the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024 on Tuesday. Senior trap shooter Prithviraj Tondaiman will spearhead the team comprising the likes of Rajeshwari Kumari, Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Raiza Dhillon and Maheshwari Chauhan.

Tondaiman has made the cut in men’s trap, while Rajeshwari will compete in the women’s trap event. Anantjeet will be India’s sole men’s skeet shooter, while Dhillon and Chauhan, who earned quota places, will take aim in the women’s skeet.

The NRAI secretary general Kr. Sultan Singh said: “There was intense competition for places and things could have changed in case some shooters medalled at the recently concluded Lonato World Cup. But we believe that we have a great Shotgun team, which has won the highest ever spots for India at any Games and certainely a second Olympic medal in the discipline loks a strong possibility.”

He also revealed that the name of women’s Trap shooter Shreyasi Singh had also been approved by the committee and the NRAI had written to the ISSF (International Shooting Sport body) for a quota swap. In this situation, her name could only be published post receiving necessary approvals from the ISSF.

Also Read: Manu Bhaker headlines India’s 15-member Rifle and Pistol shooting team for Paris Olympics 2024

Indian shooters fail to impress at Lonato

The Indian team had failed to impress in the recently concluded Shotgun ISSF World Cup 2024 in Lonato. Ganemat Sekhon was India’s best performer with a fifth-place finish in the women’s skeet, while none of the male shooters made the top-six cut.

India’s only Olympic medal in this event had come way back in the 2004 Athens Olympics when Lt. General Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (Retd.) clinched silver medal in the men’s double trap. Four years later, in China, Abhinav Bhindra won India’s second medal in shooting, this time a gold, in the men’s 10m air rifle competition. It was also India’s first ever individual gold medal in the quadrennial event.

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