New Delhi, April 18 (IANS) A first batch of 58 Indian shooters and support staff headed to Cairo on Saturday to take part in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun, scheduled in the Egyptian capital from April 19 to 27. The Cairo Junior World Cup will kickstart the ISSF junior circuit, which has three events lined up for Shotgun shooters and two for Rifle and Pistol shooters, this calendar year.

India has fielded a total of 71 shooters for the 18 medal events, including 36 shooters in the 15 Olympic events in Cairo. The three additional events include the traditional junior men’s and women’s 50m rifle prone competitions as well as the men’s 25m pistol event, which is touted to be part of the 2032 Olympics.

In all, 284 athletes from 25 countries will compete in Cairo, with India fielding the largest contingent. Hosts Egypt will field a 29-member squad, whereas Russia, competing under the Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) banner, has also entered a large 43-member squad.

Other top shooting nations that have entered sizeable squads are France (24), Great Britain (16), and Italy (13).

With Junior World Championships slated for June in Suhl, Germany, this will be a good opportunity for Indian juniors to stake their claim for that blue riband event.

A few days back, India concluded their ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol campaign in Granada, Spain, with a tally of one gold medal.

Sonam Uttam Maskar was the last Indian contestant as she finished a fighting fifth in the women’s 10m air rifle final. Sonam shot 188.5 to bow out after the 18th shot of the 24-shot final, 0.8 behind her nearest rivals at that stage, among them world number one and eventual gold medalist Wang Zifei of China, who finished with 252.9 points. Women’s 3P world champion Jeanette Hegg Duestad of Norway won silver with 252.4, while former air rifle world champion Han Jiayu of China won bronze with 231.5.

India, which had majorly fielded shooters ranked between 4-6 in the domestic rankings in the year’s opening world cup leg, made as many as seven finals, but only the 10m air pistol pairing of Mukesh Nelavalli and Palak shot gold on the opening day of competitions. They finished third on the leaderboard with China topping it with eight golds and 13 medals.

–IANS

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