Asia's Top Trap Shooter Zoravar Singh dropped from India's Asian Games squad

India’s top trap shooter Zoravar Singh Sandhu, currently ranked No.1 in Asia and among the world’s top six, has been left out of India’s proposed shotgun contingent for this year’s Asian Games despite a string of strong international performances.

This comes at a time when Indian shooting is balancing a rigid selection policy with growing expectations of medal success on the world stage.

“The federation should reconsider this (selection) but whatever decision they take I have to accept. Being Asian No.1 and currently world No.6, the federation should consider this (achievement),” Zoravar told PTI. “I shot at the World Cup in Kazakhstan as a ‘zero’ shooter and I shot the maximum in the Indian contingent.”

NRAI secretary-general Pawankumar Singh defended the decision, saying the federation would not deviate from the policy laid down over a year ago.

“It’s 99 per cent final that this is the shotgun team that will go to the Asian Games,” he said. “If we start changing names in the squad after seeing the faces of players, then there will be no difference left between shooting and the rest of the sports.”

Zoravar’s omission stems largely from a dip in form during the National Championships and domestic selection trials, competitions he was required to attend despite an intensive international schedule leading into the World Championships and World Cup Finals. Those performances proved costly even though he was ranked world No.4 barely a month ago and had posted some of the strongest international scores by any Indian trap shooter over the last six months.

The proposed men’s trap team for the Asian Games in Aichi–Nagoya from September 19 to October 4 includes Kynan Chenai, Ahvar Rizvi and Shapath Bhardwaj.

STRONG INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCES

At 47, Zoravar became only the third Indian trap shooter to win a medal at the World Championships when he secured bronze in Athens in October last year. He also reached the medal round at the World Cup Finals before eventually finishing seventh.

More recently, Zoravar competed as a ‘zero’ shooter at the ISSF World Cup in Almaty, a category used primarily for selection and scoring purposes, and still returned the best score among Indians in the event with a tally of 119. Under NRAI rules, the country’s top-10 shooters are required to register at least two international scores for national team selection, even though ‘zero’ shooters are ineligible to compete for medals.

Despite the backlash surrounding the decision, the NRAI appears unlikely to alter the squad, with federation officials indicating the proposed contingent is effectively final.