Jaipur, 19 July: It is indeed a matter of pride that 3 shooters, hailing from the Pink City, are participating in the Tokyo Olympics beginning from 23 July. Apurvi Chandela (10-metre Air Rifle), Divyansh Singh Panwar (10-metre Air Rifle) and Avani Lekhara (Para) in 50–meter Air Rifle have reached Tokyo and will be shooting at the Asaka Shooting Range.
What is heartening is that they began their shooting career from the well-known OASES world-class Shooting Range of Jaipur managed by the Rajasthan Rifle Association. The Annual State Open Shooting Championship is also held here. Chandela is the former world champion and also the winner of gold in Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014. She had participated in the last Olympics as well. The 18-year-old Panwar was a silver medallist in the 10-meter Air event at the 2019 ISSF World Cup. He is currently the world number two. Lekhara has won gold medals at National Shooting Championships in 2015 and 2016. She also won a silver medal at the IPC Para Shooting World Cup in Dubai in 2017.
The Secretary General of Rajasthan Rifle Association, Mr Shashank Kaurani said that we are all hoping that these 3 shooters from Jaipur will bring us an Olympic medal. Shooting sport in Rajasthan has a glorious history and I can sense that we are on the brink of a glorious moment.
Rajasthan has the rich legacy of former Olympian shooters like Dr Karni Singh Bikaner (participated in 5 Olympics), Keshav Sain , Devi Singh, Bhim Singh Kota and Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore who also won a silver medal in the Athens Olympics in 2004. Shagun Chowdhary of Jaipur is also an Olympian shooter and had participated in the 2012 Olympics in London.
