The Fab Four of Indian Shooting

Indian cricket fans would have heard of the term ‘Fab 4 ‘ to refer to the 4 leading international batsmen currently- Kohli, Smith, Williamson and Root; or even to refer to the classic Indian Test middle order of Dravid, Sachin, Ganguly and Laxman.

Quietly however, another ‘Fab Four’ is emerging in Indian sports- the four female rifle shooters Apurvi Chandela, Anjum Moudgil, Elavenil Valarivan and Mehuli Ghosh.

Three of them are in the top 4 of the current 10m Air Rifle World Rankings while the 4th, Mehuli, shot a finals world record score of 253.3 in the recently concluded South Asian Games in Nepal.

Though her performance will not be officially recognized by the ISSF, it is worth noting her qualification scores of 632.6 at the SA Games and 629.3 at the World Cup Finals. She may not make it to the 2020 Olympics, she is definitely one to watch out for in the future.

Among the other 3, Elavenil is the current World No.1. She was the recipient of the ISSF Golden Target Awards for ending the year at the top of the rankings after winning the Gold in the World Cup Finals, an event where only the best shooters of the world are invited. Such is the depth of 10m ARW in India that even she is not guaranteed an Olympic spot.

Which brings us to the 2 shooters who have secured the quotas for the Olympics, in fact they were the first two from India to do so for Tokyo 2020, from any sport.

Apurvi Chandela, the ‘veteran’ at 26, has been one of the most consistent AR shooters in the world since 2018. She has featured regularly in finals of ISSF events.

Anjum Moudgil is the only shooter among the four who has won a medal at the World Championships, a silver which she won in 2018, also earning the quota in the process. She is also the only one among them who shoots in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions event. Apart from individual medals, these four have also consistently won ISSF medals in AR Mixed, a new event added for the Tokyo Olympics.

Expectations for next year’s Olympics will be high from the 2 among these who make it to the final squad, as well as from other rifle and pistol shooters. However regardless of what happens in the Olympics, the coaches and the NRAI should be commended for the emergence of these 4 world class sports persons.The media should highlight the achievements of our shooters, particularly at a time when strong female role models are needed in India.