TIL Desk Sports/ “Never has an Indian shooting contingent looked stronger going into an Olympics than now,” says 2008 gold medallist Abhinav Bindra. Since September 1, 2018 — the beginning of the qualification period for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Indian shooters have won a record 15 Olympic quota places. Only USA (21) and China (23) have managed more. However, more Indians could go through on the basis of their world rankings on May 31.
“Never have we ever gone to an Olympics with such bright chances. We have 15 athletes and each one of them, who have qualified, is capable of winning a medal,” Bindra told. Among shooters who emerged in the qualification period have been teenagers like pistol shooters Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker. Bindra added that the fact that the team is young makes it difficult to predict results at Tokyo.
“It’s a very young team so it’s very hard to predict performance. However, they have already shown that they have what it takes to win at the highest level. That is all we can do going into the Games and then it boils down to how we perform on the given day. But of course going into these Games, a lot of Indian shooting athletes have looked capable of winning medals, which I think has never happened before,” he said.
