Indian women shooters begin quest for final Paris berth

NEW DELHI, April 11: Three Indian women shooters are all set to begin their quest for the lone remaining quota place left to be won in the pistol discipline, as the ISSF’s final Olympic Qualification Championship gets underway in Rio De Janeiro from Friday.
Two teenagers — Asian Games champion Palak and Chandigarh’s Sainyam — as well as Surbhi Rao, will try and claim the second Paris Olympics quota place in women’s 10m air pistol.
Indian shooters have already won a record 19 quota places for the Paris 2024 Games, including all eight in rifle, seven in pistol and four in shotgun.
Esha Singh had earlier in the year won the first women’s air pistol quota place with a gold medal finish at the Asia Olympic Qualifiers in Jakarta.
Palak, Sainyam and Surbhi, currently ranked third, fifth and sixth in the discipline in India, will take aim on Saturday for the qualification round, with the top eight qualifiers competing in the final slated for Sunday.
The three shooters have been accompanied by two coaches and a physio.
The 10m air pistol mixed team is the first final scheduled on the opening day of competitions on Friday.
A total of 466 athletes from 76 countries have entered the fray.
Among the Indians already qualified for Paris Olympics are Raiza Dhillon, Esha Singh, Rhythm Sangwan, Shriyanka Sadangi, Manu Bhaker, Tilottama Sen, Rajeshwari Kumari, Sift Kaur Samra, Mehuli Ghosh,.(PTI)