Three Indian shooters aim for lone Paris Olympic quota in pistol shooting

Three Indian women shooters are all set to begin their quest for the lone remaining quota place left to be won in the pistol discipline, as the ISSF's final Olympic Qualification Championship gets underway in Rio De Janeiro from Friday.

Two teenagers -- Asian Games champion Palak and Chandigarh's Sainyam -- as well as Surbhi Rao, will try and claim the second Paris Olympics quota place in women's 10m air pistol.

Indian shooters have already won a record 19 quota places for the Paris 2024 Games, including all eight in rifle, seven in pistol, and four in shotgun.

Esha Singh had earlier in the year won the first women's air pistol quota place with a gold medal finish at the Asia Olympic Qualifiers in Jakarta.

Palak, Sainyam, and Surbhi, currently ranked third, fifth, and sixth in the discipline in India, will aim on Saturday for the qualification round, with the top eight qualifiers competing in the final slated for Sunday.

The three shooters have been accompanied by two coaches and a physio. The 10m air pistol mixed team is the first final scheduled on the opening day of competitions on Friday.

A total of 466 athletes from 76 countries have entered the fray. 

India has won the highest-ever 19 Paris Olympics quota in shooting out of 24 possible quotas. India has won eight out of eight in rifle, seven out of eight in pistol, and four out of eight in shotgun.

Four quotas in shotgun and one quota in pistol remains to be clinched by the Indian shooters.