Tokyo Games: Indian Shooting Contingent's Kits For Olympics to be Dispatched To Training Bases In Croatia, Italy On Friday

The Indian shooting contingent's kits for the Tokyo Games will be couriered to its training bases in Zagreb, Croatia, and in Italy on Friday night after being delivered to the sports body's head office by Indian Olympic Association (IOA). Among others, the kits include three sizes of bags -- small, medium and large -- track suits and training gears. Though for now, only the big-sized bags will be sent to the shooters with the remaining ones going to Tokyo from India. "They are common to the whole squad. Only the bigger bags are being sent now. As far as the shooters' participation in opening ceremony is concerned, the plan is not sure but some of them may not take part as they have events the next day," a National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) told PTI.

While the opening ceremony is scheduled for July 23, the Indian women's 10m air rifle shooters -- Anjum Moudgil and Elavenil Valarivan -- and the men's 10m pistol marksmen -- Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma -- have their competition the following day.

"The DHL (international package delivery and express mail service) vehicle was parked outside the office and, in all likelihood, they will be dispatched to Croatia by tonight. All the kits are common to the whole squad," he added.

"The IOA has got the kits delivered to the NRAI office."

Pushed back by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to be held from July 23 to August 8, with the shooting events scheduled in the first half of the sporting extravaganza.

The 13 Olympic-bound Indian rifle and pistol shooters are in the final stretch of their preparations in Zagreb and will leave for Tokyo from the Croatian capital on July 16, reaching Japan the following day.

On the same day, the two skeet shooters -- Angad Vir Singh Bajwa and Mairaj Ahmad Khan -- will also be leaving from their respective training bases in Italy.