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Indian shooters doing dry firing, will hit range on May 19
Accorded a warm welcome by the Croatian shooting fraternity, including world number three rifle shooter Peter Gorsa, the Indian team will take part as a guest invitee in the European Championship from May 20 to June 6 at Osijek.
In quarantine till May 19, India's Olympic-bound shooters are keeping themselves busy with dry firing in their respective hotel rooms at Zagreb before they hit the range next week.
Accorded a warm welcome by the Croatian shooting fraternity, including world number three rifle shooter Peter Gorsa, the Indian team will take part as a guest invitee in the European Championship from May 20 to June 6 at Osijek.
After the continental event, the Indian shooters will compete in the ISSF World Cup, slated to be held in same city from June 22 to July 3.
"We are being taken care of very well here, including getting Indian food. We are in quarantine at the moment and the shooters are doing dry shooting in their rooms and working on keeping the mind and body healthy," a coach associated with the team said from Zagreb.
"The ammunition has been deposited in the range and we are scheduled to go to the range on May 19, after we have completed the one-week quarantine.
"The Croatian shooting federation is doing everything possible to make our stay pleasant. We also thank the NRAI for this and also Peter Gorsa, who has been really helpful all along," the coach added.
The 13 Olympic-bound Indian shooters, seven coaches, five physios and a two-member video crew landed in Zagreb in a chartered flight on Tuesday, after which they were received by the Croatian shooting federation with Gorsa going the extra mile to ensure that everything is in place for his guests.
Gorsa, who had tested positive for COVID-19 on his arrival in New Delhi for the ISSF World Cup in March, was looked after well by the National Rifle Association of India during his stay in India with NRAI president Raninder Singh even inviting him to stay at his residence.
The two and a half months training-cum-competition tour of Croatia is the Indian team's final tune-up to the upcoming Tokyo Games.
The two Olympics-bound skeet shooters -- Angad Vir Singh Bajwa and Mairaj Ahmad -- are currently based in Italy.
