NRAI replaces Annuraj with Pushpanjali for World C'ships

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) today made a change to the Indian shooting squad for the upcoming World Championships, bringing in pistol shooter Pushpanjali Rana in place of Annuraj Singh.
"Pushpanjali has been picked in place of Annuraj," a NRAI official said after a meeting here today.
To be spearheaded by Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, who has just won a yellow metal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, the squad includes established stars like Vijay Kumar, Gagan Narang, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Anisa Sayeed, Rahi Sarnobat, Heena Sidhu, Harpreet Singh and Sanjeev Rajput among others.
The tournament, to be held in Granada, Spain, from September 6, assumes significance as 64 quota places for the 2016 Rio Olympics will be up for grabs.

The selection committee picked the team as per NRAI's selection policy. As per the policy, shooters are selected on the basis of their last six scores.
In the men's 10m air rifle event, Bindra will be there alongside Sanjeev Rajput and Ravi Kumar. London Olympics silver medallist Vijay, Harpreet and Gurpreet will represent the country in rapid fire pistol. Vijay Kumar is also there in centre fire pistol alongside Pemba Tamang and Gurpreet Singh.

Though not in the men's 10m air rifle team, Narang will be competing in two other events -- rifle 3 position and rifle prone.
Another World Cup gold medallist, Manavjit will spearhead the challenge in trap event with Kynan Chenai and R Prithviraj Tondaiman in the ranks.

In men's double trap, Ankur Mittal, Mohd Asab and Sangram Dahiya will represent India.
Multiple-time Commonwealth Games medallist Samresh Jung will lead the challenge in standard pistol alongside Mahaveer Singh and Gurpreet Singh.