Mixed bag full of medals!

Saurabh Chaudhary. Pic/AFP

Former World No.1 and three-time Olympian shooter Anjali Bhagwat has rated India's mixed pistol shooting team (10m air pistol event) of Saurabh Chaudhary-Manu Bhaker and Divyansh Singh Panwar-Elavenil Valarivan very highly, tipping them to be medal-winners at the Tokyo Olympics, beginning today.

Chaudhary and Bhaker had won gold at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Argentina. Chaudhary also became the youngest Indian shooter to win gold in the 10m air pistol event at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. And Bhaker has as many as nine ISSF World Cup gold medals to her name so far.

Manu Bhaker. Pic/AFP

However, Bhagwat, 51, felt that this being their first Olympic appearance, the shooters will have more chances in the team events rather than in the individual category.

"Let's not talk about only medals, but we can definitely expect good performances from both of them [Chaudhary and Bhaker]. They have experience and that will definitely come handy if they qualify for the finals [in the individual events]. They are highly talented and very confident shooters. They have been working hard for four years. I have seen their hard work and dedication," Bhagwat said during a virtual media interaction, in reply to mid-day's query on medal prospects in the individual shooting events.

Elavenil Valarivan, Divyansh Panwar and Anjali Bhagwat

"I am very sure about the mixed team event where Saurabh and Manu, and Divyansh and Elavenil will be shooting. They are very strong contenders this time because both the Indian pairs are very strong compared to the other countries. In the other countries, either the male shooter or the female shooter is the weaker link but in India's case, all four, have been World No.1 in their respective event and they won medals in it. So, this newly-added event will benefit India and we must take advantage of it. So, those two mixed medals are my favourite picks," added Bhagwat, who has collected a massive 31 gold, 23 silver and seven bronze medals at the international level.

Bhagwat also has high hopes from Maharashtra shooter Rahi Sarnobat, who will be competing in the 25m pistol event. "Rahi is in tremendous form, having shot well recently at the World Cup [in Croatia last June]. She created a new record with a 590-plus score. That was a mind-blowing performance. So I expect her to do well in Tokyo," said Bhagwat, who was India's first shooter to enter the Olympic finals in the 10m air rifle category at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Bhagwat, however, warned that the Chinese shooters can spring a surprise. "You never know what the Chinese are doing because they did not compete throughout the year and we don't know the average scores of any of the Chinese shooters. Similarly, the Iranian shooters are strong too," Bhagwat signed off.

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