Munich: The ISSF World Cups are "important check points" on the way to the Olympic Games, said India's pistol ace Heena Sidhu, who is geared up to compete in the year's final World Cup for rifle and pistol shooters, starting here on Thursday.
The former world number one is hoping to test her skills and score consistently in the build-up to the World Championships in September, which will also be the first quota event for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
"The World Cup in Munich is extremely important to figure where I stand before going into the first Olympic qualifiers that will start from the World Championship in September," Heena said on tournament eve.
"We have experience of two Olympic cycles and we are using it to improve our preparations. The CWG, these World Cups are very important check points on our way to the Olympics. These competitions will show the true effects of our training and based on my results we can amend our preparations." The Commonwealth Games and World Cup Final gold medallist will be competing in three events — 10m air pistol, 25m sport pistol and mixed team event (10 metre) in the German city.
The field includes Serbia's Zorana Arunovic, Ukraine's Olena Kostevych, Greece's Anna korakaki, France's Celine Goberville and those from China, Korea and Germany besides countrymates Manu Bhaker (10 metre) and Rahi Sarnobat (25m).
Heena said she has worked on physical conditioning and body stability during a two-week training camp in Germany.
"I and my team have been working hard in improving all aspects of my game keeping the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in mind," said the 28-year-old Heena.
"We are focusing on physical conditioning and body stability. There are some good balancing equipment here so we are making use of it," said coach Ronak Pandit on Heena's preparations.