They were mostly off the mark in the recent World Championships but Indian shooters will nonetheless be expected to deliver a bagful of medals when the event kickstarts in the Asian Games here on Saturday. The events will commence with women’s 10m air pistol and men’s 50m pistol in which four titles would be decided on Saturday.
In the absense of Ronjan Sodhi, the burden of keeping the Indian flag high has fallen on man-in-form Jitu Rai, world number one in 10m air pistol and a gold medal winner in 50m free pistol at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Armyman Rai starts as perhaps India’s biggest medal hope in the Games, even ahead of the renowned 2008 Beijing Olympics gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra and another rifle-shooting ace Gagan Narang. He is set to provide a strong challenge to the Chinese and Korean rivals in these two pistol events. Bindra has checked into the Asiad athletes village two days ago while Narang has moved in on Thursday.
In the absense of Ronjan Sodhi, the burden of keeping the Indian flag high has fallen on man-in-form Jitu Rai, world number one in 10m air pistol and a gold medal winner in 50m free pistol at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Armyman Rai starts as perhaps India’s biggest medal hope in the Games, even ahead of the renowned 2008 Beijing Olympics gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra and another rifle-shooting ace Gagan Narang. He is set to provide a strong challenge to the Chinese and Korean rivals in these two pistol events. Bindra has checked into the Asiad athletes village two days ago while Narang has moved in on Thursday.