Tokyo 2020: Data check – a close look at women’s 10m air rifle stats and where Indians stand

After a disappointing showing at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Tokyo 2020 is likely to play a critical role in determining the future of the Olympic movement in India, and unsurprisingly, a lot of Indian hopes are pinned on the sport of shooting.

India had a mind-blowing 2019 in shooting, topping the medals tally at all the four rifle/pistol World Cups with a total of 22 medals including as many as 16 gold. Such performances were unheard of in Indian shooting and rightly raised a lot of hopes.

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This hope was perhaps best reflected in the women’s 10m air rifle event, with the trio of Elavenil Valarivan, Anjum Moudgil and Apurvi Chandela simultaneously occupying the top three positions in the world rankings.

However, with the pandemic stopping everything for about a year, things have changed quite a bit in 2021.

The tabulation at the end of this article shows the performances in the 10m air rifle event across seven world tournaments since the start of the Olympic qualification period. Besides the World Championships in 2018, there were four World Cups in 2019 (all offering Olympic quotas) and two World Cups in 2021 (which provide an indicator of…

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