After breaking their medal drought in shooting at the Olympics in Paris last summer, the Indian squad looks to start the next Olympic cycle at the combined ISSF World Cup Argentina in Rifle, Pistol & Shotgun Shooting at Buenos Aires from 1st to 11th April 2025.
The 43-member squad is the biggest at the event ahead of China (39) & the hosts(38).
Rifle & Pistol Events
India has been doing well in the Rifle & Pistol events at the Shooting World Cups for a while now regularly winning medals and this is expected to continue in Buenos Aires with some of the leading athletes missing from action including those from Korea & Japan.
However, with a new season & the small margins in scores it will not be a surprise if we see some new faces emerge at the World Cup.
Paris Olympics double medallist Manu Bhaker makes her way back to the international arena after Paris as one of the strongest contenders in Women’s 10m Air Pistol and the 25m Pistol apart from the 10m Mixed Team event.
She had won Bronze at Paris in the Women’s 10m Air Pistol & Mixed team event with Sarabjot Singh while finishing 4th in the 25m event.
She made the team on the back of strong performances in the NRAI selection trials topping the 25m event while finishing 2nd in the 10m event showing no signs of lack of match practice.
The selection trials were not so good for other medallists from Paris, Sarabjot Singh who finished 8th in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol selection trials, and Swapnil Kushale who finished just outside at the 4th spot in Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Position event.
One name that has been on every Indian shooting fan’s mind over the past few years, Saurabh Chaudhary is back in the squad after Tokyo after topping the selection trials with an average of 584.85.
His setting a new national record of 591 in the Selection Trials shows his return to form after a long time. It will be interesting to see how he fares in a field consisting of the Italian duo of Federico Nilo Maldini & Paolo Monna apart from others like Damir Mikec & Christian Reitz. Joining Saurabh are Varun Tomar and Ravinder Singh in the 10m Air Pistol event.
In the Women’s 10m Air Pistol event, joining Manu are the 18-year-old Suruchi Phogat who impressed in the selection trials with an average score of 586.63, 5 points more than Manu & the other Indian in the team, Sainyam.
They can expect a tough fight with others in the fray like Veronika Major, Zorana Arunovic & Doreen Vennekamp,
India will be favorites in the 10m Air Pistol event with the likes of Serbia, China and Germany in the mix for the medals. For India, Saurabh & Suruchi and Manu & Ravinder will be the two teams based on their rankings from the selection trials.
In the Men’s 10m Air Rifle event, Arjun Babuta, who narrowly missed out on the Bronze in Paris will be looking to start the season in style. Joining him would be the reigning World Champion, Rudrankksh Patil who topped the selection trials after missing out on the Olympics due to his subpar performance in the Olympic trials.
Hriday Hazarika is the other Indian in the squad.
In the Women’s 10m Air Rifle event, it is the young trio of Arya Rajesh Borse, Narmada Nithin & Sonam Uttam Maskar who lead the Indian charge after having qualified ahead of a host of others including Elavenil Valarivan, Ramita Jindal, Tilottama Sen, Nancy & Mehuli Ghosh among others.
With the depth we have in this discipline, it is not hard to see them enter the finals & walk away with a medal or two.
The Indian teams can also be expected to do well in the 10m Air Rifle mixed team events with the pairing of Rudrankksh Patil & Arya Rajesh Borse and Arjun Babuta & Narmada Nithin making up the teams.
Another name making a comeback to the national squad is Chain Singh who made the squad by virtue of placing 2nd in the selection trials behind Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar in the Men’s 50m Rifle 3 position event. Joining them is Niraj Kumar. In one of the trials, Chain Singh had shot an incredible score of 597.
Sift Kaur Samra will look to put her Paris disappointment behind in the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 position event. Interestingly, Ashi Chouksey will also be in the mix with one of her trial scores reading 598/600. Ashi Chouksey had topped the selection trials with Shriyanka Sadangi following her.
The Indian trio can be expected to face opposition from the Chinese shooters apart from Nina Christen & Mary Carolynn Tucker.
The Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event will see the seasoned duo of Anish Bhanwala & Vijayveer Sidhu joined by the experienced Gurpreet Singh who is making his comeback into the Indian team.
They will face competition from the likes of Christian Reitz & the Chinese shooters.
In Women’s 25m Sports Pistol, Manu is joined by Simranpreet Kaur Brar & Esha Singh.
They will compete against the likes of Doreen Vennekamp, Manika Karsch & Veronika Major apart from the Chinese athletes.
Shotgun Events
India has not been doing well in the shotgun disciplines in the past few years. It would be a good opportunity for the squad to do well & build up their confidence going into the new Olympic cycle. The absence of some top athletes provides reasons for optimism for the Indian squad.
In Men’s Trap, the team consists of Lakhsay, Prithviraj Tondaiman & Zoravar Singh Sandhu.
The Women’s Trap team has a new look with Neeru, Pragati Dubey & Bhavya Tripathi making the team from the trials. Lakshay & Neeru and Prithviraj Tondaiman & Pragati Dubey will compete in the Mixed Team event.
The most exciting name to look forward to will be in Women’s Skeet with Raiza Dhillon doing well of late in the domestic circuit including equalling the national record of 122/125. Joining her are Ganemat Sekhon & Darshna Rathore.
Men’s skeet will see the seasoned campaigners Anantheet Singh Naruka & Gurjoat Singh Khangura in action with Bhavtegh Singh Gill.
Where to Watch the Event Live?
All the finals of the events can be watched live on the ISSF’s official Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@issfchannel
