Pistol shooters set to take aim as India hopes for strong start in Asian Rifle/Pistol Championship 2026

New Delhi [India], February 3 (ANI): As day one of the Asian Rifle/Pistol Championship is set to commence, the Pistol shooters will take aim at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Ranges in the national capital on Wednesday.
According to a press release, the medals in the 10m Air pistol events will be decided tomorrow.
Indian shooters, led by World Champion Samrat Rana, World Cup Final Champion Suruchi Singh, Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker, and Esha Singh, will aim to give the hosts a strong start in the continental event.
Four finals will be held tomorrow, including the senior men's and women's, along with the finals of Junior and Youth men. Suruchi Singh and Samrat Rana will be one of the favourites to win the gold medal along with Manu Bhaker and Esha Singh in the women's event. World number four and world silver medallist Ho Ching Shing from Hong Kong lines up as one of the favourites for the women's 10m air pistol.
She has made the continental final on four occasions, winning silver in 2019. A dark horse for a medal could be Cheng Yen-Ching of Chinese Taipei, ranked 16th in the world. The 19-year-old gave a solid performance in her World Championship debut and finished fifth on her ISSF World Cup debut in Munich. Thu Vinh Trinh of Vietnam, a two-time Asian bronze medallist and two-time Olympic finalist, will also feature.
Current World Champion Samrat Rana will lead the Indian men's side along with world number two and world bronze medallist Varun Tomar and Sharvan Kumar, who finished 12th in the World Championship.
Valeriy Rakhimzhan of Kazakhstan, the world number eight and the ISSF World Cup silver medallist from Munich, who placed fourth last year in Shymkent, Hsieh Hsiang-Chen of Chinese Taipei and Uzbekistan's world number 25 Mukhammad Kamalov, who placed ninth at the 2025 World Championship, will be the main competitors for the Indian shooters.
Junior and youth athletes will also be in action tomorrow, with Jonathan Gavin Antony, Mukesh Nelavalli, Deaflympics medallist Abhinav Deshwal, Himanshu Rana and Priyanshu Yadav taking the field in the Junior category, and Darren K Dawn, Girish Gupta, Abhay Dhama, Mandeep Chauhan, Dhairya Prashar and Hardik Bansal will be in action in the youth category.
The hosts have entered the largest squad of 118 athletes, with Kazakhstan fielding the second biggest contingent of 35 athletes. Regional powerhouses Korea and Japan have also fielded strong squads, and Shooters from Chinese Taipei, Vietnam and Hong Kong are also expected to put in good performances. (ANI)