Trap shooter Shreyashi Singh on Friday has been included in the 21-member Indian shooting team for Paria Olympics 2024 after the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) accepted NRAI's quota swap request.

Also Read: Paris Olympics 2024: Indian rower Balraj Panwar to reach Paris 20 days in advance to adjust to the conditions

The Indian federation had requested the world body of shooting to change the quota.

The shooting team now has 8 members in rifle, 7 in pistol and 7 in shotgun. Including mixed events, the team will now have 27 players participating in the Paris Olympics 2024 starting in July.

One of Manu Baker's quota was shifted to Shreyashi

Manu Bhaker had topped both air pistol and sports pistol events, so one of her quota places was shifted to women's trap shooting, giving Shreyashi a place in the team.

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore inspired Shreyashi to choose shooting as career

Shreyashi Singh is active in politics. She is an MLA from Jamui Assembly seat of Bihar. Shreyasi will participate in the women's trap event along with 32-year-old shooter Rajeshwari Kumari. She has studied from Hansraj College, Delhi. When she was studying in 10th class, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who had won a silver medal in the Athens Olympics, inspired her to take up shooting as her career.

Also Read: Paris Olympics 2024: Indian athletes who qualified for the Paris 2024

Paris Olympics 2024: Indian Shooting Squad 

Rifle

• 10m air rifle (men): Sandeep Singh and Arjun Babuta
• 10m air rifle (women): Elavenil Valarivan and Ramita Jindal
• 50m rifle 3-positions (men): Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Swapnil Kusale
• 50m rifle 3-positions (women): Sift Kaur Samra and Anjum Moudgil
• 10m air rifle mixed team: Sandeep Singh/Elavenil Valarivan and Arjun Babuta/Ramita Jindal

Pistol

• 10m air pistol (men): Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Singh Cheema
• 10m air pistol (women): Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwan
• 25m rapid fire (men): Anish Bhanwala and Vijayveer Sidhu
• 25m pistol (women): Manu Bhaker and Esha Singh
• 10m air pistol mixed team: Sarabjot Singh/Manu Bhaker and Arjun Singh Cheema/Rhythm Sangwan

Shotgun

• Trap: Prithviraj Tondaiman, Rajeshwari Kumari and Shreyasi Singh
• Skeet: Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Maheshwari Chauhan, and Raiza Dhillon
• Skeet mixed team: Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Maheshwari Chauhan

Six-time world champion MC Mary Kom expressed disappointment over the poor performance of Indian boxers in the Paris Olympics 2024. She said that being a medal winner, it is natural that she feels bad.

Also Read: Cricket versus "Sports": A friend or a foe?

India had sent a team of six boxers to the Paris 2024, which included two men and four women. It also included Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain and world champion Nikhat Zareen.

Mary Kom expressed her desire to re-enter professional boxing

Mary Kom expressed her desire to re-enter professional boxing, stating, "I am planning to make a comeback.I will try to make a comeback in pro-boxing." In the same event, she shared her happiness in participating in sports-promoting events but remained concerned about India's performance at the Olympics. 

'We will assess what needs to be done'

Mary Kom told IANS during the Army Sports Conclave, "Looking at the Olympics performance, its unfortunate that we didn’t win a medal in the 2024 Olympics. We will assess what needs to be done moving forward and what shouldn’t be done,"

India's boxing campaign was disappointing 

Lovlina (women's 75kg) missed out on a historic second medal at the Paris Olympics and lost to China's Li Qian in the quarterfinals. At the same time, in the men's 71 kg category, Nishant Dev had reached the quarter-finals, but he had to face defeat from Marco Verde of Mexico.

Two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen (women's 50kg), Commonwealth Games champion Amit Panghal (men's 51kg) and Preeti Pawar (women's 54kg) lost in the round of 16 in their respective categories. Jasmine Lamboria (women's 57 kg) was eliminated in the round of 32. Overall, India's Paris Olympics boxing campaign was disappointing.

Also Read: Neeraj Chopra’s best throws: Here are all the top throws by javelin ace Neeraj Chopra

"As a world champion and medallist myself, its natural to feel disappointed. We'll focus on more practice and hard work for the upcoming tournaments," Mary Kom added.

Only three boxers achieved olympic medal

Notably, so far only three Indian boxers have won medals in the Olympics – Vijender Singh (bronze in Beijing 2008), Mary Kom (bronze in London 2012) and Lovlina Borgohain (bronze in Tokyo 2020).

A lot of instances have seen cricket being differentiated from other sports. Especially, in South Asian countries, where cricket rules a fraternity, "sports" look doomed. An established "Cricket versus Sports" league is not a 2-month long tournament. It's an age-long duel with apparent results. But, is cricket guilty?

If we look back, Cricket was not as big as it is now. Restricted within the allies of a colonized country, cricket was just a time pass. 36 years to Independence, but a famous singer (Lata Mangeshkar) had to arrange a charity musical show to gather prize money for the 1983 World Cup Winners.

India gained some confidence since then. the biggest boost came after the win in the inaugurating T20 World Cup Win. 2007, 24the September, exactly 20 years back, the seed of the cash-rich league got sown. 

Indian Premier League, started in 2008, is the biggest source of money earning for BCCI. Keeping aside BCCI, the neighbouring cricketing nations have their cricket board more powerful than the other boards. But is this a fault of Cricket?

"Athletes" ignites the fire of "Cricket versus Sport" League

India won its second T20I World Cup after ending its 11 years of drought. The fans who were frustrated for a decade finally got one thing to celebrate. The Marine Drive got flooded with people. The Wankahde Stadium showed all its suppresed love to the team.

Felicitations came from their respective state governments. BCCI provided a huge lump of prize money to the players and the support staff.

But this has triggered athletes from different sports. Names like Chirag Shetty and Saina Nehwal came into the limelight criticizing the sport. When Shetty wanted equal recognition for India's win in the last Uber Cup, Saina went a step ahead. Her view was simple- people wouldn't even hate cricket even if she did so. But, why would someone hate cricket?

This is not a once or twice-told story. This widespread competition with cricket is not new. But is cricket a foe to other sports? Here are a few stories of "influence" and "idolization" in the recent past, not only from India but from neighbors too.

Sri Lanka Cricket funded CWG participating athletes.

The pre-2022 Commonwealth Games has seen an economic crisis in Sri Lanka. Not just economic, but the life on the island was distressed. The then Prime Minister Rajadhakshya fled from the country. Sri Lanka since its independence faced their record crisis.

The country fell short of food and fuel. The pandemic had already hit the Sports authorities. The crisis increased the hardships. They ran out of money. The situation was so pathetic that the boards couldn't manage transport to send the accessories to the athletes

At a point, the country thought of withdrawing its name from the Birmingham CWG. But at that very moment, Sri Lanka Cricket stepped in.

The board contributed 22 million Sri Lankan Rupees to the athletes participating. They hosted Australia and gathered the amount, despite the fears of the crowd ruining it.

Cricket Sri Lanka tried to cover all the funds. However, the athletes still had limited athleisure. CWG authorities too came in help for the athletes. Sri Lanka finished the CWG Campaign with four medals (one silver and three bronze).

Pakistan Cricket Board- the unsung sponsor for Arshad Nadeem

The Paris Olympics Gold medallist Arshad Nadeem was initially an age-group cricket player, His focus later shifted to javelin through which Pakistan got its first medal after 1992.

Arshad Nadeem registered a monstrous throw of 92.97 metres sealing the gold for his country. Earlier he won the silver at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, Budapest, with a throw of 87.82 meters. He gave Pakistan’s first-ever medal at the World Athletics Championships.

But what did Pakistan give him? ignorance! The Commonwealth champion earlier expressed that he has been using a javelin for the last 8 years. His bosom friend and admirer Neeraj Chopra from India tweeted, urging the Pakistan Government to buy Nadeem news javelins.

Nadeem hails from Punjab's Miyan Channu village. Struggling themselves, the villagers funded him for his Olympic campaign. Added, that it was the Pakistan Cricket Bard who sponsored him.

PCB also financed Nadeem and his coach Salman Fayyaz Butt's air tickets.

Read also: A Bronze costs just USD 100: Trembling Future of Pakistan Hockey Team

BCCI's baby steps for Olympians

Earlier BCCI secretary Jay Shah announced financial aid for the Olympians.BCCI granted Rs. 8.5 Crores (approximately $1.03 million) to the Indian Olympic Association for their Olympics campaign.

Recently a new NCA (National Cricket Academy) is near completion. The old existing facilities at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in the city center will be upgraded to a multi-sport training facility.

Apart from the cricketers, it will open doors for the Olympians too. NCA will have new facilities that will let them train there.

The new facilities will have World-Class Playing Grounds will have:

• 45 Practice Pitches: A variety of pitches to cater to different training needs.
• Indoor Cricket Facilities: For year-round practice and skill development.
• Olympic-Sized Swimming Pool: To aid in recovery and cross-training for athletes.
• State-of-the-Art Training and Recovery Facilities: Equipped with the latest sports science technology to help athletes maintain peak physical condition and recover efficiently from injuries.

Cricketer- "athlete" collaboration

When one section came forward criticizing the fame, the other one took it handy to make their own.

Mahi's influence

Speaking about Swapnil Kusale, he himself mentioned that he doesn't follow any other sport apart from shooting. But he follows Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Kusale, who is an Indian Railways employee is a ticket checker like Dhoni. It took him 12 years to feature in the Olympics. And take India's first ever 10m Rifle position 3 medal. The Asian Games Champion accepted that MS's calm personality helps him to stay calm in chaos.

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The Kohli aggression

One of the biggest heartbreak for any badminton fan was Lakshya Sen's exit from the Olympics without a medal. The Chinese Lee Zii Jia shattered Sen's bronze medal dream. 

But Sen's popularity is still unmatched in the sports arena. Even though he is "big," he still wants to "be the Virat Kohli of Indian badminton in coming years." In "The Ranveer Show" podcast he expressed his admiration for Kohli.

The other name that comes in the list is Nitesh Kumar. The Olympic Champion in the Men's Singles SL3 category is a Kohli fan. His winning celebration had some glimpses of Kohli's aggression.

But Nitesh's love for Kohli is not limited to celebrations. After succumbing to a deadly injury in Vizag, he started upgrading his badminton skills. Not only that, he delved himself into fitness, inspired by the 2013 version of Kohli.

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The Wall looks upon The Wall

Soon after retirement, Indian Men's Hockey team goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh was assigned to train the junior hockey team. The two-time Olympic Bronze medallist was delighted to get this role. he not only talked about the future prospects but did mentioned about Rahul Dravid.

"The Wall" of Indian Hockey looked upon "The Wall" of Indian Cricket when it came to coaching. The way Dravid devoted himself to training the cricketing juniors, Seejesh is looking forward to doing the same for his sports.

Read also: Hockey India decides to retire jersey No. 16 in honor of goalkeeper PR Sreejesh

Cricket is another sport

The 2028 Olympics will feature Cricket after 128 years. The brand value of Virat Kohli played a pivotal role in the addition of cricket. But as Sunil Chhetri, the Indian former captain of Indian Football once said, Cricket excelling is great for that country. Then, how does that justify other sports not getting the "love" cricket gets?

How does that justify Chirag Shetty repeatedly slipping down on the court, in the Olympics quarterfinal, having his partner Sattwikraj Rankireddy as the lone warrior? 

How does that justify the associations not getting enough funds and definitely investing to find talent?

How does that justify archers failing to read the wind in bigger stages?

It's an open-ended question. Is it cricket the enemy, or the system? Is cricket actually an enemy or a friend in need?

Indian badminton player Malvika Bansod continued her brilliant form and entered the Super 1000 quarter-finals for the first time by winning a tough match against her higher ranked opponent Kirsty Gilmour at the China Open 2024 in Changzhou on Thursday.

Also Read: India at Paralympics: Medals by every edition

Malvika Bansod, BWF ranking 43rd, toiled hard for one hour and five minutes before defeating two-time Commonwealth Games medalist and world number 25 Gilmour of Scotland 21-17 19-21 21-16 in the women's singles round-of-16 match.

Earlier defeated Paris Olympics bronze medalist

The 23-year-old player achieved this victory a day after defeating the Paris Olympics 2024 bronze medalist Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia. 

However, Malvika Bansod, the only Indian shuttler left in the competition, faces a tough challenge as she will face fourth seed and two-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the last eight stage.

Although the Japanese shuttler has won both the matches against Malvika, the Indian shuttler came close to defeating  Yamaguchi and she is hopeful that she will be able to register victory this time.

Malvika's sensational performance in pre-quarterfinals

In the opening game against Gilmour, Malvika was down 11-5 at the break. The Indian shuttler brought down the deficit to two points at 16-14 and then won seven of the next eight points to go one game up in the contest. Gilmour, drew on her experience to mount a comeback and close a tight second game.

Malvika surged to an eight-point lead at 10-2 in the decider. She later extended her advantage to 20-11. Gilmour fought back with five consecutive points to make it 20-16 but the late fightback proved too little for Malvika, who comfortably sealed her spot in the quarter-finals.

Hello and welcome to Sportz Point's coverage of India at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris.

Indian athletes will compete for the first time in Para-cycling, Para-judo, and Para-rowing in the Paralympic Games. Indian competitors will aim to surpass their previous record of 19 medals from the Tokyo Paralympics 2020. The competitors have already brought 4 medals to India including a gold.

On Day 2, Preeti Pal became India's first Paralympian medallist in a track event. She finished at 14.21 to grab the bronze medal in the Women’s 100m T35 finals. Manish Narwal won silver in the Men's 10m Air Pistol SH1 Final with 234.9 points at the Paralympics 2024 in Paris. 

Avani Lekhara won the gold medal in the Women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 category with a score of 249.7. She also made a Paralympic record. Mona Agarwal, on the other hand, won bronze in the women’s 10m air rifle standing final with a score of 228.7. 

This is Abishek Goswami and I'll be joined later by Payal Debnath and Koushik Biswas to bring you all the updates from the web desk. 

Follow us on Twitter for all the updates. Join our Telegram and WhatsApp channels to get all the news and scores.

Stay tuned for all the live updates.

17-year-old pistol marksman Rudransh Khandelwal is ready to make his debut in the Paris Paralympics 2024. He lost his leg when he was just eight years old but he overcame everything in his way to become the world No.1 in 50m pistol (SH1) and is now aiming for gold in his maiden Paralympics.

Read Also: India at Paralympics 2024: Day 1 Schedule and Fixture

Rudransh Khandelwal eyes gold In maiden Paris Paralympics 2024

Seeing shooter Manu Bhaker struggling with a pistol malfunction during the Tokyo Olympics was a "lesson" for Rudransh. He now always carries a spare pistol for both domestic and international competitions.

"Like the weapon malfunction during competition, how to quickly get used to the other (spare) weapon and shoot. I prepare myself for every eventuality in the competition, including a delayed match, a shot getting canceled, or any other eventuality. So, if at all an adverse situation arises, I will be ready to handle it," said Rudransh.

Manu had a pistol malfunction during the 10m competitions in Tokyo which cost her a place in the final.

"That (Manu incident) gave me that thought (to always keep a spare weapon). You might have confidence in your abilities but the weapon is only a piece of equipment, which can malfunction anytime. Following that incident, every shooter gives priority to a spare weapon," Rudransh said.

His prosthetic leg broke just 15 minutes before the start of a domestic competition. It was another lesson for Rudransh to be ready with a toolkit to promptly repair the contraption.

"It's happened 15-20 minutes before a match when my prosthetic leg broke. Now I keep a toolkit to quickly repair it. And, if it happens again, I am ready for it," said Rudransh

"There was a short-circuit in the electronic gadget controlling the fireworks and a flying metal plate severed my left leg just below the knee. I was taken to a hospital in Bharatpur from where I was referred to Jaipur and then to a hospital in Gurugram but my leg couldn't be saved. So, the next thing was a prosthetic leg," Rudransh shared how he lost his leg in an accident.

Rudransh started his career with 10m air pistol. It took him seven years to get into the national squad. 

"I could not stand on my prosthetic leg for more than 2-3 hours during practice. He (coach) continued to work on me and from 2-3 hours, it became 7-8 hours. I'm 17 years old and continue to grow, so every month the prosthetic leg has to be readjusted. I have had four prosthetic leg replacements since I lost my leg. Recently, with the help of TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) funding, I have been able to afford a high-end adjustable leg costing Rs 8 lakh," he added.

There are lots of expectations from the Indian fans. The fans are expecting nothing less than a gold from the young lad and Rudransh is also confident. He said multiple times that he is absolutely ready for the competition.