 "Shooter Avani Lekhara")
A handful of Indian shooters are likely to compete in a tournament in Paris in the third week of July, hoping to gain some "advance knowledge" of lining up at the range that will host the events at next year's Olympics.
The forthcoming tournament, starting July 15, will take place at the same range that will also play host to the shooting events of the 2024 Olympic Games in the French capital.
While not all shooters selected for the ISSF World Championships and Hangzhou Asian Games are going to be part of this tournament, which is being organised exactly one year before the quadrennial extravaganza, quite a few of them are set to take to the Paris range in the coming days.
"The team is going to be a mix of players who are in the current Indian squad for the World Championship and Asian Games and those shooters who missed out on selection now but were part of the earlier squad," a source in the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) told PTI.
"As far as the participating shooters are concerned, taking part in the upcoming competition in Paris will give them an advance knowledge about what to expect from the range that is going to host the Olympic Games and also invaluable experience," the source added.
Having won medals at three straight Olympics from 2004 to 2012, the Indian shooters have failed to secure a podium in the last two editions of the Games, returning home empty-handed.
Last week, the NRAI had announced the Indian team for the rifle and pistol events for the upcoming Asian Games and this year's World Championships.
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The squad was selected after the final national selection trials for an elite group of rifle and pistol shooters at Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range here. A provisional squad of shotgun shooters for the Hangzhou Games and Baku World Championship was announced earlier.
A total of 21 shooters -- 11 in pistol and 10 in rifle -- will be travelling for the Hangzhou Asian Games in China, scheduled from September 23 to October 8.
Olympians Manu Bhaker, Divyansh Singh Panwar as well as reigning men's 10m air rifle champion Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil are in the Indian shooting team.
For the Baku World Championships, to be held from August 14 to September 1 in Azerbaijan, India will be sending a 22-member rifle and pistol squad.
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