Asian Games 2018, Indian player profiles: Pistol shooting

The 18th edition of Asian Games is set to begin in Jakarta and Palembang on August 18, with 572 Indian sportspersons in contention for medals. After a successful Commonwealth Games, in which India finished third on the table with 66 medals – 26 gold, 20 silver and 20 bronze – the expectations from the Indian contingent are high.

Out of the 572 Indian sportspersons in Indonesia, 28 are shooters. Here are the profiles of the seven pistol shooters in the squad.

Air Pistol 

Abhishek Verma

Date of Birth: August 1, 1989

Event at Asian Games: Men’s 10m air pistol, pistol mixed team

Past performance (if any): N/A

Best performance so far: India debut on the international stage

Brief Description: The 29-year-old hobby shooter turned professional’s journey to the Asian Games is remarkable as it is unbelievable. He emerged as a surprise India No 1 in 10m air pistol, one of the most competitive shooting categories in the country beating the likes of Commonwealth Games 2018 medallists Jitu Rai and Om Prakash Mitharval and world no 1 Shahzar Rizvi. He started competing only three years ago, did not figure in the India top-10 until a year ago, and is yet to make his debut for India. The Haryana shooter sealed his spot in the Indian team for the Asiad after shooting 585 in qualification and then winning the gold beating Deepak Sharma, Jitu Rai and Amanpreet Singh in the Selection Trials 5 in June.

Before picking up a pistol, Verma has tried his hand at law, Indian Administrative Service and computer science. However, he found his true calling once he moved from his native Haryana to Gurgaon to train with coach Omendra Singh at the Eklavya Sports Shooting Academy.

The Nationals at the end of 2017 was the turning point of sorts as he put in some consistent scores since the 2018 season began.

Verma has also traveled with the Indian team to the ISSF World Cup in Munich and scored 585 in the Minimum Qualification Scores (MQS) category.

Saurabh Chaudhary

Date of Birth: May 11, 2002

Event at Asian Games: Men’s 10m air pistol

Past performance (if any): N/A

Best performance so far: Gold, ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl in 2018

Brief Description: A talented junior shooter, the Asian Games will be Saurabh Chaudhary’s first big test at the senior level. In the last one year, the teenager from Uttar Pradesh has done well at the national level, holding his own among veteran pistol shooters, and has notched up impressive numbers on the international junior circuit.

In December 2017, Chaudhary qualified for the Youth Olympics Games with a gold medal and a junior world record at 10th Asia Youth Olympics Games qualification. He became the third Indian to bag quota places for the 2018 Youth Games at the qualification tournament in Wako City, Japan.

At the KSS Shooting Championship in 2017, the then 15-year-old beat Jitu Rai in the 10m air pistol final, after getting silver medals in the junior and youth event on the same day.

At the 2017 World Junior Championship, he was part of the Indian team that won the bronze, while he finished fourth in the individual team.

In 2018, he bagged the gold in 10m air pistol with a junior world record score at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl in Germany. The 15-year-old shot a superb 243.7 in the final, breaking the world record of 242.5 held by Chinese shooter Wang Zhehao. At the same event, he won the mixed team gold with Devanshi Rana, ahead of compatriots Manu Bhaker and Anmol Jain.

He went on to clinch the junior men’s air pistol gold in the 28th Meeting of Shooting Hopes International championship in Plzen and then won the mixed silver with Devanshi Rana.

Manu Bhaker

Date of Birth: February 11, 2002

Event at Asian Games: Women’s 10m air pistol, Women’s 25m sport pistol, pistol mixed team

Past performance (if any): N/A

Best performance so far: Gold, Commonwealth Games in 2018
Gold, ISSF World Cup in Mexico in 2018
Gold, ISSF Junior World Cup in Sydney and Suhl, 2018

Brief Description: Only 16, the talented shooting sensation has been selected in all three pistol events for the Asian Games.

But with her performances in the last year, the teenager has shown that she is equal to carrying the load on the big stage. At the Commonwealth Games in April, she dominated the 10m air pistol final to win the gold defeating veteran and compatriot Heena Sidhu by a margin of six-plus points.

A few weeks before, she had announced her arrival at the senior stage in an emphatic manner at the International Sport Shooting World Cup at Guadalajara, Mexico. She won the gold two-time champion and home favourite, Alejandra Zavala. She won her second gold in the 10m air pistol mixed event with Om Prakash Mitharval. Bhaker also won double gold at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Sydney earlier this year. She claimed another ISSF Junior Shooting World Cup gold with a world record score of 242.5 in Suhl, Germany later in the year.

Born to an engineer from the Merchant Navy and a school principal, she comes from village of Goria in Haryana. She stole the show at the 2017 National Championships in Kerala, where she won nine golds and broke the national record, held by Sidhu. She is mentored by national junior coach and multiple CWG gold medallist Jaspal Rana.

Heena Sidhu

Date of Birth: August 29, 1989

Event at Asian Games: Women’s 10m air pistol

Past performance (if any): Silver (2010) and bronze (2014) medal in the team events

Best performance so far: Gold, ISSF World Cup final in 2013
Gold, Commonwealth Games in 2018

Brief Description: Heena Sindhu is one of India’s most successful female shooters with gold medals at ISSF World Cups, Commonwealth Games, Asian Championship as well as world record and the world No 1 ranking in her career so far.

She won her first ISSF World Cup medal in 2009 with silver in Beijing. She then made her mark in India with a one silver and one gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi.

But her best performance came in 2003 when she won the gold medal at the ISSF World Cup Finals in Munich with a world record score. She became the first Indian woman to hold a final world record in Shooting. She became the world No 1 in 2014, another first for an Indian woman shooter and in the same year, won the silver medal at the World Cup in Fort Benning, USA.

Sidhu has also participated in both the 2012 London and 2016 Rip Olympics, but hasn’t progressed to the finals as yet.

She had started her career in 10, pistol shooting but also took up 25m pistol in 2017 and has since been training with coach and husband Ronak Pandit.

In 2017, the year that the mixed team event was first announced, she and her partner Jitu Rai went on to win three gold medals, including the crystal globe in the ISSF World Cup Final in Delhi.

In 2018, she has won a gold medal in 25m pistol event and a silver in 10m air pistol event at the Commonwealth Games and is aiming to win her first individual medal at the Asian Games.

Rapid Fire Pistol

Shivam Shukla

Date of Birth: March 3, 1997

Event at Asian Games: Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol

Past performance (if any): N/A

Best performance so far: Gold, ISSF Junior Cup in 2015

Brief Description: Shivam Shukla is 21-year-old Indian shooter who is currently the India no 1 in 25m rapid fire pistol. He took up the sport in 2012 at his grandfather’s shooting range.

His best outing was the ISSF Junior Cup 2015 where he won two gold medals in pistol. He had won gold in 25m standard pistol men junior, 25m pistol men junior at the event in Suhl, Germany. He also picked a silver in the team event.

Shukla is a member of the Indian Air Force as part of their sports quota and represents them at national competitions.

He impressed at the national selection trials 5 and 6, which is the KSS Memorial Shooting Championship, held in Delhi in June 2018. In 25m Standard Pistol Trial 5, he got bronze after falling short of just one point. In the KSS tournament, he won the silver with 29 points ahead of Olympic medallist Vijay Kumar.

He comes from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and a Bachelor of Commerce student.

Anish Bhanwala

Date of Birth: September 26, 2002

Event at Asian Games: Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol

Past performance (if any): N/A

Best performance so far: Gold, Commonwealth Games in 2018

Brief Description: Only 15, Anish Bhanwala is already one of India’s most decorated shooters in the last year with some stunning performances on the international level.

In April, he became the youngest Indian to win a gold medal in Commonwealth Games, when he won the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event with a Games record score of 30 including four series of 5 each.

He first shot into national limelight when he shot a junior world record score of 579 to secure the gold at the 2017 ISSF Junior World Championship in Suhl, Germany. He won another gold, two silver and one bronze medal for India in the successful campaign.

He followed it up with a silver in men’s 25m Rapid Fire Commonwealth Shooting Championships in Australia, coming up against senior shooters. Later that year, he clinched first senior national crown, beating veteran shooters in the field. At the ISSF Junior World Cup in 2018, he won one individual gold and one team silver in 25m Rapid Fire Junior Men.

The teen from Karnal in Haryana first took up the sport after trying his hand at modern pentathlon, when his talent with the gun was spotted by senior shooters. He had earlier represented India at the 2013 Modern Pentathlon Junior World Championships. His older sister Muskan is also a shooter and represents India at international level.

He is currently training under the national coach Jaspal Rana in Delhi.

Sport Pistol

Rahi Sarnobat

Date of Birth: October 30, 1990

Event at Asian Games: 25m sport pistol

Past performance (if any): Team bronze at the 2014 Asian Games

Best performance so far: Gold, Commonwealth Games in 2010 and 2014

Brief Description: Rahi Sarnobat is among India’s most successful sport pistol shooters with back-to-back gold medals at the 2010 Delhi and 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games in the 25m pistol event.

But even the 27-year-old hasn’t had the best of runs in the last couple of years after a shoulder injury kept her out of the game over a year and she struggled with her form since then.

She started in Kolhapur in Maharashtra where there was no 25m range but has risen through the ranks with her consistent performances in the early years of this decade.

She won an individual gold and pair silver at the Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010 and became the first Indian woman to seal an Olympic quota in sport pistol when she won the bronze at the ISSF World Cup at Fort Benning, USA in 2011.

At the 2012 London Olympics, she finished 19th. Her best performance at the ISSLF level came in 2013 when she became the first Indian pistol shooter to win a gold at the shooting World Cup.

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, she defended her gold and at the Asian Games in Incheon later in the year, she won a team bronze medal with Anisa Sayyed and Heena Sidhu.

But in 2015, she had to take nearly a year-long break from the range due to injury and her form dipped subsequently. She did not shoot for the entire year of 2016 and only took up the gun at the end of the year. She had mixed results in 2017 and early 2018, but she finished fourth at the World Cup in Changwon, narrowly missing the bronze.

Note: Manu Bhaker will also be competing in the sport pistol category.

Heena Sidhu is supported by Edelweiss.