New-look Indian shooting squad all set for year's first ISSF World Cup

ISSF World Cup (rifle/pistol) and the first since the Tokyo Olympics, competitions for which will begin from Monday. The event will start with the men's 10m air rifle qualification relays and end on March 7, with the 25m rapid fire pistol mixed team competition. India has a lot of new faces from the squad which represented the country in their previous assignment -- the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The men's air rifle squad, which will go first, is led by Tokyo Olympian Divyansh Singh Panwar, with Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil and Srinjoy Dutta completing the troika of medal hopefuls. Rudrankksh and Dutta will be on their first senior India assignments and represented the country at the Junior World Championships last year where Rudrankksh won a silver. National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) secretary general K Sultan Singh wished the team ahead of the competition and expressed optimism of a good outing.

"We are confident that the team has been well prepared to deliver the desired performances for the country in Cairo. There are a lot of new young faces who have a lot of potential as well as established international performers and therefore we believe that our good run in ISSF events will continue," he said. "It is important to begin the international season well as it boosts confidence for the rest of the year.