Indians shooting for medals in Olympics

THE stakes have risen for shooting in cricket-obsessed India since Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won the double trap silver at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Four years later Bindra won India's first individual gold, triumphing in the 10m air rifle event in Beijing, changing the face of Indian shooting.

"It took the 2004 medal to convince all that this sport has a lot of potential," National Rifle Association of India adviser Baljit Singh Sethi told Reuters.

"It started from there on, and from 2008 I have lost count of how many shooters are joining the sport. The number is growing every day."

It is a welcome change to the cricket-dominated culture in a country of 1.2-billion people who do not care enough about Olympic sports.

Bindra's gold shattered a mental barrier for the likes of Joydeep Karmakar, who has qualified for the men's 50m rifle prone event in London.

"It did have a great influence on us. Unless you see someone around who has done it, you don't really feel confident you can do it as well," Karmakar told Reuters.

"When you see someone who is shooting next to you and has won a gold in Olympics, you start believing 'okay, if this guy's done it, so can I!'"

Since Bindra's feat, Indian shooters have performed consistently well, with Ronjan Sodhi briefly occupying the world's top ranking in double trap and Gagan Narang winning four gold medals in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.

Expectation has risen so much that even though India would be sending an unprecedented 11-member contingent, two more than Beijing, the federation insists a few more should have booked places at the Royal Artillery Barracks in London.

"Actually we were expecting that we might touch 15," Sethi said. "But we had some bad luck and some shooters lost their qualification competitions. We could have won at least three more quotas."

Sethi expects at least three of the 11 to return from London with a medal around their neck.

"I think as things are today we have got the best hopes among all the disciplines," said Sethi, a long time NRAI office bearer who was India's deputy chef de mission in Beijing.

"We are expecting at least three medals. We can't say how many gold medals or silver or bronze. It depends on how lucky you are."