Six Indian shooters, including Jitu Rai, Apurvi Chandela and Mehuli Ghosh, will be in fray on the first competition day of the season’s first ISSF World Cup in the Mexican city of Guadalajara on Saturday.
Two finals are lined up on the opening day of the Combined World Cup where the rifle, pistol and shotgun shooters will compete.
The men’s 10m air pistol will see Rai, Om Prakash Mitherwal and Shazar Rizvi carry the Indian hopes in the qualification stages while Apurvi, Mehuli and Anjum Moudgil will fight it out in women’s 10m air rifle, the second medal event of the day.
A total of 404 athletes from 50 countries will pile up 594 starts in the 12-day competition, which will have 15 medal events including three mixed team events.
India has fielded a 33-member squad including three shooters in the MQS (minimum qualification score) section.
The year has a packed calendar with four ISSF World Cup stages in each of the three disciplines apart from the World Championships, the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games and the Youth Olympics.
The World Championships, scheduled to be held in Changwon, Korea in August-September will also be the first quota competition for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
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