Anjali, Manavjit to kickstart campaign

Beijing, Aug. 8: A billion hopes will rest on the broad shoulders of Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Anjali Bhagwat as two of country’s finest shooters hit the range on Saturday gunning for an Olympic medal.

When Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore shot his way to glory with that silver medal in Athens four years ago, he also raised the bar for fellow shooters and for the first time in Indian sports’ history, onus would be on the nine-member shooting contingent to live up to the expectations.

Anjali, along with young Avneet Kaur, would kick off India’s 10m air rifle campaign on Saturday at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall, while Manavjit and Mansher Singh will feature in the men’s trap qualifying rounds.

Samaresh Jung too will be seen in action in men’s 10m air pistol, hoping to get back his mojo that earned him the moniker of ‘Goldfinger’ in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, winning seven medals, including five gold.

Manavjit admitted he has not set alight the range this year so far, but felt his word work would not go in vain. "Of course I’m not coming into the Olympics with big wins behind but I have put in my best efforts and have my fingers crossed," said the lanky marksman.

"I trained in Italy for quite a while and have been practising here since the last 10 days. I did all I could and think all would depend on how I fare on the day of competition," Manavjit added.

Coach Sunny Thomas was happy to see both the women shooters hitting the bull’s eye on a regular basis.

— PTI