Rio Shooting World Cup: Opportunity for India’s Olympic Bound Squad to Get a Feel of the Ranges

New Delhi, April 14, 2016: A 23-member Indian Shooting Squad led by former Olympic Champion Abhinav Bindra have embarked upon the Brazilian city of Rio de Janerio, for the third leg of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup (Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun), an opportunity for the 12 Olympic bound shooters in the squad to get a first feel of the very Ranges which will also play host to the Olympic Games in August this year. The Olympic Shooting Centre, located inside theDeodoro Park, one ofthree venue clusters for the Olympic Games, will host 15 Finals beginning April 16 with the Men’s 10M Air Rife kicking off the race for the medals. Every day will have at least one Final concluding with the Men’s Skeet on April 24.

India’s 12 Olympic bound shooters including the likes of Gagan Narang, Jitu Rai, Gurpreet Singh, Chain Singh, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Mairaj Ahmed Khan, Prakash Nanjappa,Kynan Chenai, Apurvi Chandela, Heena Sidhu and Ayonika Paul apart from Bindra will be also looking to leave a good impression in front of the world’s top Shooters including a galaxy of Olympic and World Champions as well as a host of current and former World number ones, many of whom would come back to compete with them at the Olympics, looking to gain whatever competitive advantage in terms of a huge confidence booster. India will also be fielding a World number one in pistol ace Jitu Rai who currently heads the World 50m Pistol rankings.

A total of 660 shooters from 88 different countries have confirmed participation in the event which will serve as test event for the upcoming Olympics.


Full Indian Squad
Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang, Chain Singh, Sanjeev Rajput, Jitu Rai, Gurpreet Singh, P.N. Prakash, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Zoravar Singh Sandhu, Kynan Chenai, Md. Asab, Ankur Mittal, SangramDahiya, Mairaj Ahmed Khan, Sheeraz Sheikh, Man Singh, RajeshwariKumari, Seema Tomar, ShagunChowdhary, Heena Sidhu, Ayonika Paul, Apurvi Chandela, Pooja Ghatkar