Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra will spearhead the Indian shooting challenge in both the Commonwealth and Asian Games along with other top marksmen such as Gagan Narang and Manavjit Singh Sandhu.
Bindra along with Narang will represent the country in 10m air rifle event in the October 3 to 14 Delhi Commonwealth Games, the National Rifles Association of India said in a statement.
"Narang, however, will also compete in the 50m prone and 50m 3 position events. He will be the only shooter to participate in three rifle events," the NRAI said.
"This the best team we could have picked and it is picked purely on current form and caliber. The selection trials were transparent and all the guys who have done well have made the team," national coach Sunny Thomas, who attended the selection committee meeting here today, told PTI.
However, there was disappointment for rifle shooter Sanjeev Rajput as he failed to make the team for Delhi Games but managed to get into the Asian Games squad.
"Sanjeev was not in good form earlier but he has been recovering and seems to be getting back in touch. I am happy that he could make the Asian Games," said Thomas.
Pistol shooter Samresh Jung, nicknamed Goldfinger after his five gold, a silver and a bronze in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, has only qualified for standard pistol event for the upcoming edition.
In the double trap event, in the absence of Athens Olympics silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who skipped the trials to protest the selection policy, the slot has been filled by upcoming shooter Asher Noria.
Ronjan Sodhi is the other shooter in the event. The trap event expectedly features former world champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu, who would be seen in action in both Commonwealth and Asian Games.
The women's team didn't offer many surprises with Tejaswini Sawant, who became the first ever Indian woman shooter to become a world champion by clinching the 50m Rifle prone Air Rifle gold in the Munich edition last month, getting the nod for both the Asian and Commonwealth Games.
The Teams:
COMMONWEALTH GAMES:
MEN RIFLE: Abhinav Bindra, Hariom Singh, Gagan Narang, Imran Hassan Khan
MEN PISTOL: Deepak Sharma, Omkar Singh, Vijay Kumar, Gurpreet Singh, Samaresh Jung, C K Chaudhary, Harpreet Singh
MEN SHOTGUN: Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Mansher Singh, Mairaj Ahmad Khan, A D Peoples, Ronjon Sodhi, Asher Noria WOMEN RIFLE: Suma Shirur, Kavitha Yadav, Meena Kumari, Tejaswini Sawant, Lajja Gauswami
WOMEN PISTOL: Anisa Sayyed, Rahi Sarnobat, Heena Sidhu, Annuraj Singh
WOMEN SHOTGUN: Seema Tomar, Shreyasi Singh
ASIAN GAMES:
MEN RIFLE: Hariom Singh, Gagan Narang, Surendra Singh Rathod, Imran Hasan Khan, Sanjeev Rajput, Abhinav Bindra MEN PISTOL: Deepak Sharma, Omkar Singh, Amanpreet Singh, Vijay Kumar, Rahul Panwar, Gurpreet Singh, Samaresh Jung, CK Chaudhary, Pemba Tamang, Harpreet Singh
MEN SHOTGUN: Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Mansher Singh, Zorawar Singh Sandhu, Mairaj Ahmad Khan, A D Peoples, Smit Singh, Ronjon Sodhi, Asher Noria, Vikram Bhatnagar
WOMEN RIFLE: Suma Shirur, Kavitha Yadav, Tejaswini Sawant, Meena Kumari, Lajja Gauswami, Chetanpreet Kaur Nilon
WOMEN PISTOL: Anisa SAyyed, Rahi Sarnobat, Annuraj Singh, Heena Sidhu, Shweta Chaudhary/Sonia Rai
WOMEN SHOTGUN: Seema Tomar, Shreyasi Singh, Shagun Chowdhary, Aarti Singh Rao.
