Owing to his run of poor form, Asian Games gold medallist Ronjan Sodhi has failed to break into the 30-member Indian squad for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, which will see top shooters such as Abhinav Bindra and Vijay Kumar gunning for podium finishes.
The National Rifle Association of India’s selection committee yesterday picked the shotgun team that has 10 shooters competing in six events. The rifle/pistol team for the event, to be held in Glasgow from July 23 to August 3, was selected last month. The shooters were chosen on the basis of scores in the selection trials held earlier this month at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Almaty.
“The pair events have been deleted from the program of Commonwealth Games 2014 and this has brought down the number of medals in the Commonwealth Games 2014, compared to Commonwealth Games 2010,” the NRAI said in a statement. “Moreover, two pistol events, Centre Fire Pistol and Standard Pistol events have also been deleted and women Double Trap and Skeet women events have been added on the program of Games 2014 in place of these two events,” it added.
The team also has recent ISSF World Cup winner Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Heena Sidhu and London Olympics bronze medallist Gagan Narang. In the last Commonwealth Games at home, Indian shooters won 14 gold, 11 silver and five bronze medals. Shooting alone contributed 30 out of 101 medals won by India.
