Paris olympics countdown

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar: India's 21-member shooting squad is the second largest after athletics in the upcoming Paris Olympics. It is also India's largest-ever shooting contingent in the history of the Games, surpassing the previous best of 15 from Tokyo. As the number of shooters has increased in the squad, the expectations from them have also multiplied many folds after firing blanks and returning empty-handed from the last two Olympics despite putting up a record number of players.

In fact, India's last Olympic medal(s) in the sport came in the 2012 London Olympics when Vijay Kumar shot a silver in men’s 25m rapid fire pistol and Gagan Narang claimed a bronze medal in men's 10m air rifle. Narang is currently in Paris as India's Chef-de-Mission.

India's first Olympic medal in shooting was bagged by Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore when he claimed silver in men's double trap in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Since then the country has clinched three more medals in the sport including Abhinav Bindra's gold in men's 10m air rifle in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.