Focus on pistol shooters to earn Olympic quota places

New Delhi: Indian shooters, especially pistol exponents, will have their task cut out when they compete in the Asian Championships in Changwon, Korea from Sunday with an aim to secure 2024 Paris Olympics quota places and also carry forward their sterling performance at the recently-concluded Hangzhou Asian Games.

Indian shooters have so far won seven Paris quota slots for the country but none in the pistol category and the focus will firmly be on the likes of Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh, Rhythm Sangwan, Palak, Anish Bhanwala, Vijayveer Sidhu and Shiva Narwal, among others to end the

drought.

With 24 Olympic quota places up for grabs across 12 events, India has the opportunity to cross the 15 slots it booked for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

However, with India returning with a best-ever haul of 22 medals, including seven gold, from the Asian Games, the contingent would be geared up for the