New Delhi: Never has an Indian shooting contingent looked stronger going into an Olympics than it is now, says 2008 gold medallist Abhinav Bindra. Since September 1, 2018 – the beginning of the qualification period for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Indian shooters have won a record 15 Olympic quota places.
Only USA (21) and China (23) have managed more and more Indians could go through on the basis of their world rankings on May 31, 2020.
“Never have we ever gone to an Olympics with such bright chances. We have 15 athletes and each one of them, who have qualified, is capable of winning a medal,” Bindra told IANS.
Among shooters who emerged in the qualification period have been teenagers like pistol shooters Sourabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker. Bindra said that the fact that the team is young makes it difficult to predict results at Tokyo. “It’s a very young team so its very hard to predict performance. However they have already shown that they have what it takes to win at the highest level. That is all we can do going into the Games and then it boils down to how we perform at that given day. But of course going into these Games, a lot of Indian shooting athletes have looked capable of winning medals which I think has never happened before,” he said.
Those that follow Indian shooting or India’s performance at the Olympics in general, would be forgiven for tempering their expectations. India had gone into the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro with big expectations from the shooting contingent, of which Bindra himself was a part. It turned out to be the first Olympics since 2000 in which no Indian was able to clinch a medal in the shooting event. (IANS)