Paris Olympics is just around the corner and India is buzzing with excitement and hope, especially when it comes to shooting. Among the shooters carrying the burden of hopes is Anjum Moudgil, who has faced her share of professional setbacks, is approaching the quadrennial extravaganza with a renewed positive mindset and determination. Competing only in the 50m rifle 3 positions event this time, Anjum has evolved significantly since her last Olympic appearance in Tokyo in 2021. After missing out on 2023 World Championships and the deferred 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Anjum has made a strong comeback.

Her exclusion was a hard blow, but rather than dwelling on missed opportunities, Anjum chose to explore new experiences, taking up paragliding and enjoying the mountains of Himachal Pradesh.

In an interaction with IANS, Anjum discussed her preparation for the Paris Olympics.

Reflecting on her journey, she said, “I’m ready for Paris; the past few weeks or months have been a solid gauge of our readiness and ability to handle pressure. The way my trials and tournaments went makes me very happy. I am therefore in a good mood, organized with my routines, and proceeding as I had intended during the previous several months.”

After the disappointment at the Tokyo Olympics, where she finished 15th in the 50m 3p and 18th in the 10m air rifle, Anjum bounced back in 2022 with a silver medal at the Baku World Cup and a bronze at the Changwon World Cup. She ascended to World No.1 in the 50m 3p in July 2022.

“I don’t carry past burdens. Tokyo was disappointed but Paris surely will be the next big thing for me,” she said. “To be selected for Tokyo the last time I qualified, I had to win the quota three years before the games and keep that rank for three more years. But it was tiring, and the competition changed significantly when Covid entered the picture. Being gone for so long was really difficult,” Anjum added.

This time around, Moudgil peaked at the right moment, using the time away from the main team to work on herself. Her hard work paid off, as she performed exceptionally in the NRAI’s revised selection trials. Despite a slow start, she topped the second and third rounds, finishing second in the fourth and final selection trial in May, securing her berth for Paris.

“I was not well mentally, those years were like very difficult for me. My focus was lost. I was not doing any training and the result that we got in the Tokyo Olympics was quite disheartening to me. Being a former World champion you carry a burden of performance and not being able to rise at the occasion was a difficult period for me. I tried painting, played guitar, roamed around in the mountains for peace did paragliding for peace that I wanted after the Tokyo Olympics,” she said.

With the Olympics just a few weeks away, Anjum and the Indian team are fine-tuning their preparations in France.

Anjum, alongside Sift Kaur Samra, will represent India in the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event at the Paris Games, starting on July 26.

When asked about her current focus, Anjum highlighted the importance of mental strength and creativity. “I can really switch off from shooting, especially when things are not going so well, because painting really goes hand in hand with my shooting. One improvement I have noticed in the past two years since I have given my mental health more attention is my mental training and that is very important for athletes.”

Her approach is simple yet effective: maintain the momentum and stick to the routine. “I just want to maintain the same enthusiasm heading into the games, so I’m not making any major changes right now. Just going about things the way I had planned, nothing more,” she concluded.

The highly anticipated Olympics 2024 are all set to kick-start from July 26 and will conclude on August 11. The Olympics will be hosted in Paris and a total of 206 countries will be participating from all over the world. The 2024 Paris Olympics will feature 45 different sports, including 41 that are considered mainstay Olympic sports. Four new sports like breaking, skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing have also been included in this edition’ roster. India will be sending close to 120 athletes to Paris for the upcoming Olympic games in French capital.

India will look to outdo its tally of seven medals from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which included a gold, two silver, and four bronze medals.

Ahead of the marquee event, here’s a list of all the Indian athletes who have secured a spot in Olympics 2024.

Archery:

Dhiraj Bommadevara: Men’s team

Tarundeep Rai: Men’s team

Pravin Jadhav: Men’s team

Bhajan Kaur: Women’s team

Deepika Kumari: Women’s team

Ankita Bhakat: Women’s team

Athletics:

Akshdeep Singh: Men’s 20km race walk

Vikash Singh: Men’s 20km race walk

Paramjeet Singh Bisht: Men’s 20km race walk

Priyanka Goswami: Women’s 20km race walk

Avinash Sable: Men’s 3000m steeplechase

Parul Chaudhary: Women’s 3000m steeplechase, women’s 5000m steeplechase

Jyothi Yarraji: Women’s 100m hurdles

Kiran Pahal: Women’s 400m

Tajinderpal Singh Toor: Men’s shot put

Abha Khatua: Women’s shot put

Neeraj Chopra: Men’s javelin throw

Kishore Jena: Men’s javelin throw

Annu Rani: Women’s javelin throw

Sarvesh Kushare: Men’s high jump

Praveen Chithravel: Men’s triple jump

Abdulla Aboobacker: Men’s triple jump

Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Muhammed Ajmal, Amoj Jacob, Santhosh Tamilarasan, and Rajesh Ramesh: Men’s 4x400m relay

Mijo Chaco Kurian: 4x400m relay and 4x400m mixed relay

Vidhya Ramaraj, Jyothika Sri Dandi, MR Poovamma, Subha Venkatesan, and Prachi: Women’s 4x400m relay

Prachi: 4x400m mixed relay

Priyanka Goswami/Suraj Panwar: Race walk mixed marathon

Badminton:

H.S Prannoy: Men’s singles

Lakshya Sen: Men’s singles

P.V Sindhu: Women’s singles

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty: Men’s doubles

Ashwini Ponappa and Tanisha Crasto: Women’s doubles

Boxing:

Nikhat Zareen: Women’s 50kg

Amit Phangal: Men’s 51kg

Nishant Dev: Men’s 71kg

Preeti Pawar: Women’s 54kg

Lovlina Borgohain: Women’s 75kg

Jaismine Lamboria: Women’s 57kg

Equestrian:

Anush Agarwalla: Dressage

Golf:

Subhankar Sharma: Men’s golf

Gaganjeet Bhullar: Men’s golf

Aditi Ashok: Women’s golf

Diksha Dagar: Women’s golf

Hockey:

P.R Sreejesh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rogidas, Harmanpreet Singh(c), Sumit, Sanjay, Rajkumar Pal, Shamsher Singh, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh: Men’s hockey team

Judo:

Tulika Mann: Women’s 78kg

Rowing:

Balraj Panwar: M1x

Sailing:

Vishnu Saravanan: Men’s one person dinghy

Nethra Kumanan: Women’s one person dinghy

Shooting:

Prithviraj Tondaiman: Men’s trap

Rajeshwari Kumari: Women’s trap

Shreyasi Singh: Women’s trap

Anantjeet Singh Naruka: Men’s skeet

Raiza Dhillon: Women’s skeet

Maheshwari Chauhan: Women’s skeet

Anantjeet Singh Naruka/Maheshwari Chauhan: Skeet mixed team

Sandeep Singh: Men’s 10m air rifle

Arjun Babuta: Men’s 10m air rifle

Elavenil Valarivan: Women’s 10m air rifle

Ramita Jindal: Women’s 10m air rifle

Swapnil Kusale: Men’s 50m rifle 3 position

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar: Men’s 50m rifle 3 position

Sift Kaur Samra: Women’s 50m rifle 3 positions

Anjum Moudgil: Women’s 50m rifle 3 positions

Sandeep Singh/Elavenil Valarivan: 10m air rifle mixed team

Arjun Babuta/Ramita Jindal: 10m air rifle mixed team

Arjun Cheema: Men’s 10m air pistol

Sarabjot Singh: Men’s 10m air pistol

Manu Bhaker: Women’s 10m air pistol

Rhythm Sangwam: Women’s 10m air pistol

Vijayveer Sidhu: Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol

Anish Bhanwala: Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol

Manu Bhaker: Women’s 25m pistol

Esha Singh: Women’s 25m pistol

Sarabjot Singh/Manu Bhaker: 10m air pistol mixed team

Arjun Cheema/Rhythm Sangwam: 10m air pistol mixed team

Swimming:

Dhinidhi Desinghu: Women’s 200m freestyle

Srihari Nataraj: Men’s 100m backstroke

Table Tennis:

Sharath Kamal: Men’s singles and men’s team

Harmeet Desai: Men’s singles and men’s team

Manav Thakkar: Men’s team

Manika Batra: Women’s singles and women’s team

Sreeja Akula: Women’s singles and women’s team

Archana Kamath: Women’s team

Tennis:

Sumit Nagal: Men’s singles

Rohan Bopanna and Sriram Balaji: Men’s doubles

Weightlifting:

Mirabai Chanu: Women’s 49kg

Wrestling:

Aman Sehrawat: Men’s freestyle 57kg

Vinesh Phogat: Women’s 50kg

Anshu Malik: Women’s 57kg

Nisha Dahiya: Women’s 68kg

Reetika Hooda: Women’s 76kg

Antim Phangal: Women’s 53kg

London Olympics bronze medallist shooter Gagan Narang on Monday replaced Mary Kom as India’s Chef-de-Mission for the Paris Olympics where ace shuttler PV Sindhu will be the female flag bearer during the opening ceremony. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President PT Usha said the 41-year-old Narang’s elevation from deputy CDM’s position was an automatic choice in the wake of Mary Kom’s resignation. “I was looking for an Olympic medallist to lead our contingent and my young colleague is an apt replacement for Mary Kom,” PT Usha said in a press release.

PTI had earlier reported that Narang was in race to become the CDM of the Indian contingent.

Six-time world champion Mary Kom had resigned from the position in April, saying she was left with no choice but to step down owing to compelling personal reasons. She was named CDM by the IOA in March this year.

Chef-de-Mission is an important administrative post as he is responsible for ensuring the welfare of the participating athletes, taking care of their needs and liaising with the organising committee.

IOA also announced that Sindhu, India’s only woman athlete to win back-to-back Olympic medals, will be the flag bearer of the Indian contingent during the opening ceremony on July 26, alongside ace table tennis player Achanta Sharath Kamal.

“I am also delighted to announce that India’s only woman to win two Olympic medals, PV Sindhu, as the female flag-bearer alongside table tennis ace A Sharath Kamal in the opening ceremony,” Usha said.

IOA had named Kamal as flag bearer in March but delayed the decision on picking the female athlete.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), in 2020, had changed its protocol to allow one female and and one male athlete of each NOC to bear the flag jointly during the opening ceremony of the Summer Games.

Mary Kom and former hockey skipper Manpreet Singh were India’s flag bearers at the Tokyo Olympics.

“I am confident that our athletes are well prepared to deliver the best results for India in Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” Usha added.

More than 100 athletes have qualified for the Paris Games, starting July 26.

Interestingly, Narang — the London Olympics bronze medallist in men’s 10m air rifle event — was tasked with overseeing India’s operations at the shooting range, which is very far from the main venues.

India will field its largest-ever shooting contingent with as many as 21 qualifying for the Games.

Now that Narang has been selected for CDM’s role, the IOA will have to find his replacement at the shooting range. 

San Francisco:

A person died in a shooting in Seattle, the US state of Washington, according to police.

Police officers responded to a report of a shooting at the city’s Capitol Hill neighbourhood around 12:30 a.m. on Monday and found a person who had been shot, according to the Seattle Police Department as reported by Xinhua news agency.

Police said it was not yet clear what led to the shooting, and they have not identified any suspects.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

India’s first individual gold medallist, Abhinav Bindra, and Paralympian Deepa Malik have been honoured with Special Recognition Awards at a ceremony celebrating Indians who have made a significant impact globally. India Global Forum’s (IGF) annual UK-India Awards 2024 at Fairmont Windsor Park, near London, on Thursday evening, honoured the sporting legends alongside a ‘Global Indian Icon Award’ for social crusader Arunachalam Muruganantham, in recognition of his revolutionary work in menstrual hygiene captured in the 2018 Akshay Kumar film ‘Pad Man’. Lord Anthony Bamford, founder of multinational construction giant JCB, was honoured with the Lifetime Contribution to UK-India Relations.

“For a global sport like the Olympics, it makes complete sense to have a closer relationship with the world’s largest population. Every fourth or fifth person in the world is in India, so there’s a lot of synergy there,” said Bindra, on India potentially hosting the Olympics during a discussion around the future of sport in the country.

“But more than infrastructure, I think what we need is a vision that actually transcends far beyond the sporting events itself. The Olympics, whenever held in India, has to be seen as a catalyst for change, how the Games can really address challenges and how it can seize opportunities.

“It really has to be a springboard for how we can make India healthier and make India a more inclusive country,” he said. “We have to use it as a guide to make India better through sport,” Bhindra said.

Bindra, who is a torchbearer at the Paris Olympics next month, expressed confidence in India’s performance in the games.

“We had our best ever start with seven at Tokyo and I’m quite sure that we better that and come back with our best-ever performance; and hopefully with our first female Olympic champion,” added the retired sport shooter.

Dr Deepa Malik, the first Indian Woman Paralympic Medallist and former president of the Paralympic Committee of India, echoed the sentiment for the Paralympics.

“In Paralympics, India’s journey to Paris 2024 is going to be far better than Tokyo 2020. The number of sports has increased – the last time we participated in nine sports, this time we are participating in 12 sports. Women’s participation has increased; we do see a potential there for medals to grow. I do see them in double digits again,” she said.

The UK-India Awards, which came towards the end of the week-long IGF London summit, recognise outstanding contributions of leaders in business, professional services, government, culture and social impact, highlighting their remarkable achievements in strengthening bilateral ties.

“My ambition is to be able to put this relationship with our business partners at a stage where it is really second to none, one in which innovation that happens at universities and research centres here in the UK has Indian partners and Indian partners help take those innovations to the global market by producing in India.

“In other words, a partnership that we make together for the world,” said Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami in his address at the ceremony.

Among some of the other winners this year were a ‘Significant Contribution to UK-India Relations Award’ for London’s Science Museum Group, ‘Research & Innovation Award’ for the Serum Institute of India and the University of Oxford for their vaccine collaborations and the ‘Culture and Creativity Award’ for Teamwork Arts behind the Jaipur Literature Festival in London.

The IGF UK-India Awards founder Manoj Ladwa added: “India’s transformation is not only in India’s interest, but also in the interest of the UK, which I believe stands the most to gain and, in fact, most to contribute as a partner of choice in this incredible journey.

“Whether it’s our world-class universities, our cutting-edge research institutes, our global supply chain networks, our sports and tech expertise, our defence and security capabilities, or the sheer financial might of the City of London, the UK has it all.” 

Manu Bhaker in action© X (Twitter)