New Delhi
Eight young shooters, including Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary, were on Thursday included in the Target Olympic Scheme (TOPS) along with two tennis players and three paddlers, keeping in mind the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Both Bhaker (women’s 10m air pistol) and Chaudhary (men’s 10m air pistol) had won gold medals at the recent Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
As many as 16 shooters made the cut, including Mehuli Ghosh (women’s 10m air rifle), Anish BhanwalaElavenil Valarivan (women’s 10m air rifle), Lakshay Sheoran (men’s trap) and veteran Sanjeev Rajput (men’s 50m rifle 3 position).

Ravi Kumar (Men’s 10m Air Rifle), Deepak Kumar (Men’s 10m Air Rifle, Apurvi Chandela (Women’s 10m Air Rifle), Anjum Moudgil (women’s 10m Air Rifle and Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Position), Abhishek Verma (Men’s 10m Air Pistol), Om Prakash Mitharwal (Men’s 10m Air Pistol), Rahi Sarnobat (Women’s 25m Pistol), Kynan Chenai ( Men’s Trap), and Angad Veer Singh Bajwa (Men’s Skeet) were the other shooters to figure in the list.

Additionally, six shooters are being considered under the development group for the 2024 Olympics. They are: Hriday Hazarika (Men’s 10m Air Rifle), Divyansh Panwar (Men’s 10m Air Rifle), Shreya Agrawal (Women’s 10m Air Rifle), Aishwarya Pratap Tomar (Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Position), Esha Singh (Women’s 10m Air Pistol), Manisha Keer .

“There was an intense deliberation over the inclusion of Heena Sidhu and Jitu Rai in the scheme. The committee post the discussion agreed to keep them on a watchlist along with a few other athletes, and it was decided to take a call on their inclusion in the scheme, post the World Cup in February 2019 to be held in New Delhi,” the release added.

“The committee also decided that Sania Mirza could be considered for inclusion at a later date for Mixed Doubles depending on her plans to recommence training,” the release added.