Rathore fails to find place in shooting team for London Olympics

New Delhi: Athens Olympics silver medallist Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore failed to find a place in the Indian shooting team for London Olympics but has been kept as a stand by incase of any unforeseen circumstances. Meanwhile, Hariom Singh and Imran Hasan Khan would consider themselves to be unlucky as despite earning the quota places, their names have been replaced owing to their performance in the various national and international events as prescribed in the selection policy on the basis of calculations of various scores.


The Selection Committee, in its meeting held on Sunday, selected a total of 11 shooters who would be participating in nine events of Rifle/Pistol and Shotgun. It would be first time that a woman Trap shooter would participate in Olympic Games since the start of Quota system in 1988. It is also first time, that India is following the norm of “Quota belongs to Country and not to the person who won it”. Based on this principal, a Selection Policy was prepared in 2011. Shooters took part in various national and international competitions as prescribed in the Selection Policy and on the basis of calculations of various scores shooters have been selected. Hariom Singh who won the Quota in 50M Rifle Prone event could not be selected as he ranked 3rd in this event. Joydeep Karmakar, who is leading in this event, has been selected. Similarly, Imran Hasan Khan who won the Quota in 50M Rifle 3 Position is ranked 3rd in this event is not selected.

The selection committee has decided that quota won in 50M Rifle 3 Position will be exchanged with Air Pistol women event as Committee felt that India has a better chance of winning medal in Air Pistol Women. As per ISSF Rule, a country is allowed to exchange one Quota won by its shooters with another Quota, subject to its availability and confirmation by ISSF. The NRAI would be sending its request to ISSF for exchange of Quota of 50M Rifle 3 P with Air Pistol Women shortly. Heena Sidhu was selected for Air Pistol women event. Gagan Narang and Sanjeev Rajput will be participating in 50M Rifle 3 Position. Sanjeev Rajput is a Quota holder in this event.

Selected shooters would also be participating in other events where they have obtained MQS. Gagan Narang would be participating in three events although he has won Quota in Air Rifle event. Annuraj Singh will be participating in Sports Pistol women.

List of selected shooters:

Air Rifle Men                                               50M Rifle 3 Position Men
Gagan Narang                                               Gagan Narang
Abhinav Bindra                                              Sanjeev Rajput

50M Rifle Prone                                            Air Pistol Women                

Joydeep Karmakar                                          Annuraj Singh
Gagan Narang                                                 Heena Sidhu 

Sports Pistol – Rahi Sarnobat, Annuraj Singh

Trap Men - Manavjit Singh Sandhu

Double Trap - Ronjan Sodhi                         Trap Women - Shagun Chowdhary

Rapid Fire Pistol – Vijay Kumar

It was further decided to keep one shooter as reserve category in each event for unforeseen circumstances only. It is clarified that at no stage selected shooter will be replaced with reserve shooter on the basis of merit. Such replacements shall be made as a consequence of force measured only. The following shooters were selected, based on their ranking:

1.      3 P Men – Imran Hasan Khan
2.      Prone Men – Sushil Ghaley
3.      Air Rifle Men – Sateyendra Singh
4.      Rapid Fire Pistol – Pemba Tamang
5.      Sports Pistol – Anisa Sayyed
6.      Air Pistol Women – Shweta Chaudhary
7.      Trap Men – Anirudh Singh
8.      Double Trap – RVS Rathore
9.      Trap Women – Seema Tomar

The following shooters would accompany the Indian Team during Olympic
Games:

1.       Stanislav Lapidus – Rifle Coach
2.       Anatoly Piddubnyl – Pistol Coach
3.       Smirnov Pavel – Pistol Coach
4.       Marcello Dradi – Shotgun Coach
5.       Heniz Reinkemier – Rifle Coach
6.       Sunny Thomas – National Coach
7.       Amarjang Singh – Shotgun Coach
8.       Moraad Ali Khan – Shotgun Coach