ISSF World Cup: Manu to lead India as Swapnil returns for Munich tour
Kusale fought his way back to the men's 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) event on the back of a good show on the domestic circuit.
Manu Bhaker at the Paris Olympics
MUNICH: Paris Olympics bronze medallist Swapnil Kusale will lead the Indian squad along with comeback shooter Elavenil Valarivan at the season's third ISSF World Cup which will feature a galaxy of international stars, beginning from Tuesday.
Kusale fought his way back to the men's 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) event on the back of a good show on the domestic circuit.
Two-time Olympian Elavenil will be seen in international action for the first time since Paris, although she did make the trip to Buenos Aires and Lima as an RPO (Ranking Points Only) shooter.
Reigning Asian Games champion Palak in the women's air pistol also makes it back to the team. There will be a few World Cup debuts like newly-crowned women's air rifle national champion Ananya Naidu.
A total of 695 athletes, including Olympic and World champions and legends of the sport from 78 countries, will participate in the World Cup.
The season began with a double-header in South America where Indian rifle and pistol shooters picked up 15 medals including six gold, helping the team finish a creditable second and third respectively on the standings.
The Munich leg will however present a much tougher challenge given the much wider presence of the world's best shooters.
China, winners of the first two legs, are bringing their men's air pistol Olympic champion Xie Yu, in what is a 22-member squad.
Hosts Germany has fielded a strong 27-member contingent led by their pistol legend and former Olympic and world champion Christian Reitz.
Anna Janssen, their women's air rifle qualification world record holder, would also be starting on home soil.
Several Paris Olympic medallists like the USA's Sagen Maddalena, Italy's Paolo Monna and Danilo Sollazzo and Alexandra Le of Kazakhstan are also set to start in Munich.
Indian contingent:
Air rifle: Arjun Babuta, Kiran Jadhav, Sandeep Singh; Arya Borse, Elavenil Valarivan, Ananya Naidu
Rifle 3-position: Chain Singh, Swapnil Kusale, Kiran Jadhav; Sift Kaur Samra, Ashi Chouksey, Shriyanka Sadangi
Air pistol: Varun Tomar, Aditya Malra, Nishant Rawat; Suruchi Singh, Manu Bhaker, Palak Gulia
Rapid fire pistol: Vijayveer Sidhu, Anish Bhanwala, Ankur Goel
Sports pistol: Manu Bhaker, Simranpreet Kaur Brar, Esha Singh
