A 49-member Indian contingent is all set to fire its first bullets as the Olympic year's first ISSF World Cup begins in Cairo on Friday with the 10m air pistol finals for both men and women. While the rifle and pistol shooters will be eyeing a good performance to ensure a place in the national Olympic trials in May, the shotgun exponents will look to hold their place in the team and maintain high world rankings with as many as four spots -- two each in trap skeet -- still to be booked for Paris Games with a final qualifier event slated for April in Rio de Janeiro.
The men's and women's trap shooters will be first to take aim, with day one of qualifiers offering 75 targets to gun down.
In women's trap, Rajeshwari Kumari, Bhavya Tripathi and Manisha Keer will be in contention for medals while veteran Zoravar Singh Sandhu, Prithviraj Tondaiman and Bhowneesh Mendiratta will hold fort in men's trap.
In the women's and men's air pistol too, six Indian shooters will vie for podium finishes.
Ujjwal Malik, Ravinder Singh and Sagar Dangi will all aim for a great start and a first ever senior individual World Cup medal in the men's category, while Olympian Manu Bhaker, mixed pistol world champion Esha Singh and Anuradha Devi will carry Indian hopes in the women's event.
A few Indian shooters, like Vivaan Kapoor and Lakshay Sheoran in men's trap, Rhythm Sangwan in women's air pistol and Varun Tomar in men's pistol, will be shooting for ranking points only (RPO) and will not be in medal contention.
A total of 672 athletes from 66 countries will compete in the year's first combined ISSF World Cup stage where all 15 Olympic events will be held.
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