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This is the second part on "State of Indian Shooting".
In the first part, the intricacies of pistol/rifle events were discussed in details.
The second type of shooting events i.e. Shotgun Events are all outdoor events. India has produced many champions in this segment of shooting also. The most famous of them are Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore(India's first Olympic Medallist in Shooting), Ranjan Sodhi and Manavjit Singh Sandhu.
Shotgun Events:
The Shotgun Events are mainly of three types.
Trap Event
In this event, a single running target has to be shot at a time. India has never won an Olympic medal in this event but produced great shooters like Manavjit Singh Sandhu(former world number one). However with Sandhu past his prime, and the young shooters like Kynan Chenai and Zoravar Sing not being able to perform consistently, India's performance has been disappointing in the trap events. In the women's section also, there has been no notable success story. In order to qualify for the next Olympics and be in medal contention, Indian trap shooters need to pull up their socks
Skeet Event
In the history of Indian shooting, the skeet event has always been a weak link. India never had any notable success in either of men's or women's section of the skeet event. However, with the arrival of Mairaj Ahmed Khan, the scenario changed for the better. He was the first skeet shooter to taste success and win medals. With him still in the mix, and youngsters like Smith Singh and Saniya Sheikh coming up, India can hope for a better performance in the skeet events in future. However, to be a serious medal contender in the next Olympics, massive improvement is required.
Double Trap Event
In this event, two running targets have to be shot at one go. Traditionally of all the Shotgun events, this Double Trap event is the one, where India has succeeded the most and consistently produced Champions like Rajyavardhan Rathore and Ranjan Sodhi. A present lot of Double Trap shooters viz. Ankur Mittal, Mohammed Asab and Shreyashi Singh are also performing exceptionally well and winning medals consistently in International events.
However the Double trap event has been excluded from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and this has dented India's chances of winning medals from Shotgun Events.
In the recently concluded Junior World Cup in Germany, where India finished at the top, the shotgun events were not contributing to the success as much as rifle/pistol events were.
This throws light on the fact, that over the last few years, the shotgun events are lagging behind, failing to produce enough young talents and future champions, compared to the pistol/rifle events.
Thus unearthing of new talent in shotgun events needs to be done, and the present lot of shooters also have to pull up their socks, in order to ensure that India is in medal contention in the next Olympics, in the shotgun event.
