elavenil valarivan
Barely two days before the start of the Tokyo Olympics, India’s 10m air rifle shooters had to do with just 20 minutes of training at the Asaka Shooting Range due to a problem arising from the distribution of time slots.
While other Indian shooters trained for more than two hours, rifle teams including Apurvi Chandela and Elavenil Valarivan, who have competitions on the day of the first competition on July 24, saw their practice sessions shorten to less than half an hour. they were finished.
“This was due to some issues with the time slot as athletes from all competing countries train at the same venue,” the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) told PTI on Wednesday.
“This morning’s session took about 2-2.5 hours of training. The 10m air rifle teams got through it for 20-30 minutes.”
While the women’s 10m air rifle will begin shooting at the Games on Saturday, the men’s 10m air rifle event will take place the next day.
India will be represented by Deepak Kumar and Divyansh Singh Panwar in the men’s 10m rifle event.
It is also learned that the eight Indian shooters who will be seen in action on the first two competition days will not attend the opening ceremony of the Games on Friday.
There are competitions on the first day for the likes of 10m air pistol shooters Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma, Apurvi and Elavenil. Others like Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini Singh Deswal, Deepak and Divyansh will be shooting for the second day.
“While it was given that those taking action on Saturday would be left out, the other four would have a pre-event test on Saturday, so as far as these are concerned, it was considered prudent to miss the opening ceremony,” he added.
The Indian shooting contingent has 22 members, including 15 athletes. The Olympics are scheduled to be held from July 23 to August 8, with shooting events spread over the first 10 days that will be held without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indian shooters took their first training session in Tokyo on Monday. The Asaka Shooting Range also hosted the shooting competition at the 1964 Olympics.
The Indian shooting team arrived in the Japanese capital on Saturday after completing a long training-cum-competition tour of Croatia.
During their stay in Croatia, Indian shooters participated in the European Championships in Osijek from 29 May to 6 June. The Indian team has eight rifle, five pistol and two skeet shooters, besides six coaches and a physiotherapist.
Before the coronavirus pandemic broke out, Indian shooters consistently dominated the game, topping the table in four ISSF World Cups in 2019.
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