Rana is looking good in practice

New Delhi: Inspired by Anjali Vedpathak Bhagwat’s gold medal-winning show at the ISSF World Cup in the US earlier this month, India’s top shooters are getting ready here for the World Cups in Croatia and Germany.

The Croatian World Cup begins at Zagreb on June 2 and ends on June 9, the day the World Cup begins in Munich. The meet in Germany ends on June 16.

Anjali, who qualified for the Athens Olympics last year itself with a silver medal-winning performance in a World Cup event in the US, is still the only Indian to qualify for the Games.

The Indian contingent, which includes Jaspal Rana, Samresh Jung, Sameer Ambekar among men and Suma Shirur, Deepali Deshpande and Rajkumari on the distaff side, is now undergoing training, which will continue till a day before the team’s departure for Croatia on June 1.

National coach Sunny Thomas said that some of the shooters including Rana stood a good chance of grabbing a quota place in the upcoming World Cups. “Bindra, Suma, Deepali all stand a chance in the World Cups. Not to forget Jaspal who is consistently shooting above 580 in practice,” said Thomas.

Meanwhile an 18-member Indian junior team will leave for Suhl, Germany, on Tuesday to participate in the international juniors’ competition.

But three youngsters who made it to the senior squad — Gagan Narang, Sandeep Tarte and Raunaq Pandit — will miss the Zagreb meet as they failed to get their visas in time.