Reigning world champion pistol shooter Rai could open India's account with a medal in his pet event - 10m air pistol - at the Olympic Shooting Centre in Rio today
Jitu Rai will compete in 10m air pistol
Rio de Janeiro: India will be eyeing a medal on the opening day of competitions today when the redoubtable Jitu Rai takes aim at the shooting range in the 31st Olympic Games here.
Jitu Rai will compete in 10m air pistol
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The 29-year-old Jitu will be the cynosure of all eyes when he walks in with his pistol at the Olympic Shooting Centre to compete in his pet 10m air pistol event.
Having won medals at the Asian Games (gold and bronze in Incheon 2014), Commonwealth Games (gold in Glasgow 2014), World Cup (two gold, three silver and one bronze) and World Championships (silver in Granada 2014), Jitu has made rapid strides since the last Olympics. His most recent medal — a silver — came at the World Cup in Azerbaijan in June, making him a hot property for opening India's medal haul in the Games.
Gurpreet Singh will compete in 10m air pistol
Tipped to give India its second individual gold medal after Abhinav Bindra's 10m air rifle gold at Beijing 2008, armyman Jitu is the reigning world champion in 50m
pistol.
Day One of shooting will also see 10m air rifle women duo of Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika Paul, who had won gold and silver respectively at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, opening their campaigns.
Apurvi Chandela (left) and Ayonika Paul (centre) will compete in 10m air rifle event
Apurvi took up to shooting after seeing Bindra's gold medal feat in 2008 and now competing alongside her role model, the Delhi girl hopes to make a mark along with Mumbai's Ayonika. The 25m rapid-fire pistol event had earned India a silver in London courtesy Vijay Kumar who has failed to qualify this time.
But in his absence, Gurpreet Singh promises to make a mark. Both the Armymen have the same coach Pavel Smirnov. The Punjab lad will be shooting in 10m and 25m rapid-fire events and his promising performance at Munich World Cup last year where he finished fourth in both the events, makes him the one to watch out for.
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