Bindra, Narang to spearhead Indian challenge, Sodhi axed

Riflemen Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang will spearhead the Indian challenge while double trap exponent and Asian Games gold medallist Ronjan Sodhi was Saturday left out of the 30-member squad for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games after a string of poor shows.

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) Saturday selected 30 shooters for the rifle, pistol and shotgun events. Some 10 shooters will take part in six shot gun events.

"The pair events have been deleted from the program of Commonwealth Games 2014 and this has brought down the number of medals in the Commonwealth Games 2014, compare to Commonwealth Games 2010," NRAI secretary general D.V.Seetharama Rao said in a statement.

"Moreover, two pistol events, Centre Fire Pistol and Standard Pistol events have also been deleted and women Double Trap and Skeet women events have been added on the program of Games 2014 in place of these two events," Rao added.

In the last Commonwealth Games 2010, Indian shooters won 14 Gold, 11 Silver and 5 Bronze Medals. Shooting alone contributed 30 medals out of the 101 medals won by India in the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Squad: 50M rifle 3 position (men) Sanjeev Rajput and Gagan Narang

50M rifle prone (men) Gagan Narang, Jordeep Karmakar

10M rifle (men) Abhinav Bindra, Ravi Kumar

25M rapid fire pistol (men) Vijay Kumar, Harpreet Singh

50M pistol (men) Jitu Rai, Gurpal Singh

10M pistol (men) P.N.Prakash, Om Prakash

50M rifle 3 position (women) Lajja Goswami, Elizabeth Susan Koshy

50M rifle prone (women) Lajja Goswami, Meena Kumari

10M rifle (women) Ayonika Paul, Apurvi Chandela

25M pistol (women) Rahi Sarnobat, Anisa Sayyed

10M pistol (women) Heena Sidhu, Malaika Goel

Trap (men) Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Mansher Singh

Double trap (men) Mohammed Asab, Ankur Mittal

Skeet (men) Mairaj Ahmad Khan, Baba P.S. Bedi

Trap (women) Shreyasi Singh, Seema Tomar

Double trap (women) Shreyasi Singh, Varsha Varman

Skeet (women) Arti Singh Rao