New Delhi, (Samajweekly) India’s world No. 1 Divyansh Singh Panwar will battle it out with other top shooters in the men’s 10 metres air rifle competition of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup starting here on Friday.
The qualification round will take place on Friday while the final competition will be held on Saturday at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Ranges.
World No. 2 Petar Gorsa of Croatia and world No. 3 Istvan Peni of Hungary will also be seen in action in the men’s 10 metres air rifle competition. Asian Games 2018 medallist Deepak Kumar and Arjun Babuta are two other Indians in the field.
The presence of Hungarian shooting legend Peter Sidi and 2016 Olympics silver medallist Ukranian Serhiy Kulish in the 10 m air rifle makes the field highly competitive. The top eight shooters will enter the final round, which will be held on Saturday.
In women’s 10 m air rifle, India’s Elavenil Valarivan is ranked world No. 1. Tokyo Olympic quota winners Apurvi Chandela and Anjum Moudgil are the other two Indians who will be striving for the top honours.
Reigning Olympic champion Virginia Thrasher of the USA is also in fray. The women’s 10 m air rifle qualification round will also start on Friday.
A total of 295 shooters from 53 countries are competing in the season’s first combined World Cup that also offers world ranking points. Competitions will be held in rifle, pistol, and shotgun.
India has already bagged a record 15 Olympic quota places for the Tokyo Olympics beginning on July 23.
