452 athletes from 50 countries are at New Delhi's Dr. Karni Singh shooting range for the year's first ISSF World Cup. 63 of those shooters are from the host country which is hosting a World Cup for the first time since 2003. As the 10-day long competition gets underway, ESPN looks at what the Indian contingent can look forward to.
A chance to reset
The 2016 Olympics went poorly for India, marking the first time since the 2000 Olympics in Sydney that the shooting contingent failed to return with a medal. The team will have a chance to put that behind them as they compete in what is the first world cup stage of the new Olympic cycle. "Rio was very disappointing for Jitu (Rai) and me. But I've told him everything we have done till now is behind a closed door," says Pavel Smirnov, India's pistol coach.
Indeed, while they undoubtedly will be competing for medals, many shooters are using the first year of this competition cycle to introduce and test new training methods. Olympian Heena Sidhu has decided to opt out of the 25m sport pistol, an event in which she had medalled at the Asian Games, and is focusing on the 10m pistol. "It didn't make sense for me to attempt a different event when I still hadn't worked out the mistakes I was making in the 10m pistol. This year I'm going to approach shooting as a beginner," she says.
"I have always been an aggressive shooter. That was always my plan A. On a day where things weren't going right, I would be more cautious. Just trying to make sure I got a decent score. And what has happened is that I have slowly lost my original strength," she says. Coach Ronak Pandit says Sidhu is preparing a diary in which her shooting is being minutely dissected. "We are measuring everything, including how long she takes between shots. We trying to find out what she is doing when she is shooting well and what she is doing when she is shooting badly," he says.
Emerging talent
This will be the first year since 1999 that Abhinav Bindra will not be shooting at a World Cup for India. While his legacy will be hard to match, the New Delhi World Cup will serve as a perfect venue for emerging home talent to make a mark especially with a number of senior shooters - former trap world champion Manavjit Sandhu and Olympic 25m pistol silver medalist Vijay Kumar - not part of the Indian team.
14-year old double trap shooter Shapath Bharadwaj, 16-year-old Muskan - who competes in the women's 25m pistol and Meghana Sajjanar, a 16-year-old who participates in the 10m air rifle, will be making their World Cup debut; as will 22-year-old Neeraj Kumar who competes in the 25m rapid fire pistol event.
The comfort of shooting in familiar conditions will be tempered by the knowledge that they are competing with the best in the world. "Shooting is a game of how to handle pressure. Shapath is a good shot. He is also going to get a boost because he is shooting on his home range. But how well will he perform when he knows someone like (Olympic silver medalist) Marco Innocenti is shooting next to him? That is an experience that will only make him better," says Sangram Dahiya, Shapath's teammate.
Taste of mixed gender events (10m air rifle, 10m air pistol, trap and skeet)
While mixed gender events have been tried out at European Championships, junior World Cups and Youth Olympic Games in the recent past, it will, for the first time, be tested at a World Cup stage at the senior level in New Delhi. While some shooters have aired their apprehensions over a measure of ambiguity regarding format and rules of the event, most others were willing to overlook the teething issues. The ISSF is keen to look at it purely as a non-competitive test run at this World Cup, offering badges in place of medals to the winners.
With the International Olympic Committee (IOC) pushing for 50 % female representation, mixed gender team events are to turn into a mainstay at major international shooting competitions including the Olympics and this experience could offer shooters a much-needed taste of the future.
Marks India's return as World Cup host
The last time India hosted a shooting World Cup, Sourav Ganguly was the Indian cricket team captain, APJ Abdul Kalam held the President's office and the world was yet to hear of India's mission to Mars. All the three previous World Cups staged in India - in 1997, 2000 and 2003 - were for shotgun events only and it will be the first time that the country will hold a combined World Cup stage with rifle, pistol and shotgun competitions. Additionally, New Delhi will also host the 2017 World Cup final (rifle, pistol, shotgun combined) in October this year apart from a combined World Cup in 2019, a qualifying event for the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Air of uncertainty
A number of events are likely to face the axe from the Olympic calendar, if the ISSF athletes committee recommendations are ratified by the world body. Men's double trap, in which Rajyavardhan Rathore won Olympic silver, is expected to be scrapped alongside 50m pistol, in which Jitu Rai won gold at the Commonwealth and Asian Games, and the men's 50m prone - an event in which Gagan Narang had medalled at the Commonwealth Games.
Few shooters would participate in these events following their exclusion from the Olympic calender. Given that possibility many Indians are hoping to do well in what might the last time the event is included at the World Cup level. Narang, for instance, is only going to be competing in the 50m prone. "This will be a good chance for me to win a medal in front of the home crowd," he says.