Shooters lock and load

All eyes on air rifle stars Elavenil Valarivan, Apurvi Chandela and pistol champs Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma as they aim for medals today

Entering the Tokyo Olympics on the back of an unprecedented run that began sometime after the inexplicable meltdown in the Rio de Janeiro Games, Indian shooters bagging a medal or two, or, even three to four, is a tangible reality.

All of the 15 shooters are capable of winning medals, but few are seen as sure-shot to secure podium finishes in the events that start on Saturday.

One among them is the highly-skilled Saurabh Chaudhary, who will have a few Olympic and world champions standing in his way to glory at sport’s biggest showpiece.

Alongside Abhishek Verma, Chaudhary will be part of the first competition day action in the men’s 10m air pistol event.

But before that, the fate of Apurvi Chandela and Elavenil Valarivan—in the women’s 10m air rifle event—will be decided. A good outing for either of them means India will have won their first medal in Tokyo Games.

Saurabh Chaudhary

Both Chandela and Elavenil will enter the competition with plenty to look forward to, despite the occasional blips here and there.

Three-time ISSF World Cup gold medallist Chandela has endured a bit of rough time in the run up to the Games, having contracted COVID-19 and then testing negative just in time to board the flight for the Indian team’s training-cum-competition tour of Croatia.

It will be her second Olympics and she will look to exorcise the hurt she felt after a foot injury pegged her back in Rio five years ago. Elavenil, World No. 1 and considered one of the country’s finest rifle shooters after some fine performances since breaking into the senior team, will certainly fancy her chances too.

Meanwhile, Chaudhary has done it end number of times in what has so far been an incredibly successful six-year shooting career, due to which he has entered Tokyo as one of the hot favourites to win a medal.

Whether one gives him the favourites tag or not, it hardly matters to the boy who would once shoot for fun in his village fares while chewing gums, having been introduced to the sport on a visit to a neighbouring village. 

Not to forget his compatriot in the same event, Verma, who has also taken rapid strides and has made a place for himself after living in Chaudhary’s shadow.

Also Read: Tokyo Olympics: Deepika Kumari, Pravin Jadhav in mixed team quarterfinals

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