The reigning World Champion in air rifle Rudrankksh Patil has been included in the team for the Asian Games, but was overtaken for selection in the team for the World Championship to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) announced the rifle and pistol teams for the World Championships and Asian Games on Saturday, after the conclusion of the selection trials.
There will be only three changes to the teams for Asian Games from the one competing in the World Championship. They all will be in the rifle events.
Rudrankksh comes in place of Hriday Hazarika, while Ashi Chouksey will replace Tilottama Sen. For the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, a country can name only five men and women rifle shooters, while World Championship has no such restrictions.
Olympic quota winner Swapnil Kusale will not compete in World Championship despite figuring in the No.2 rank, as the chance would be given for other shooters to try and win the second Olympic quota in the event. Thus Niraj Kumar steps in as the third shooter for the World Championship behind Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Akhil Sheoran. Swapnil will compete in Asian Games.
The team for World Championship:
Air rifle: Divyansh Singh Panwar, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Hriday Hazarika; Ramita Jindal, Mehuli Ghosh, Tilottama Sen.
50-metre rifle 3-position: Aishwary; Akhil Sheoran, Niraj Kumar; Sift Kaur Samra, Ashi Chouksey, Manini Kaushik.
Air pistol: Sarabjot Singh, Shiva Narwal, Arjun Singh Cheema; Divya TS, Esha Singh, Palak Gulia.
Rapid fire pistol: Anish Bhanwala, Vijayveer Sidhu, Adarsh Singh.
Sports pistol: Rhythm Sangwan, Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh.
