World No.1 Mittal gives trap a shot

New Delhi : It’s not often you see a reigning world No.1 shooter in a particular event trying his luck in another. At the Karni Singh Shooting Range here today, Ankur Mittal, the numero uno double trap shooter, made his debut in trap in the senior category at the National Championships. Mittal has shot in the trap event in the past, albeit as a junior; today was the first time the Haryana marksman shot in the senior category.
The switch, though, was forced. The International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) has dropped double trap as well as the 50m air rifle and 50m air pistol event from the Olympic Games programme for 2020. ISSF said the decision was taken to comply with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) vision 2020 statement that calls for the equal representations of both male and female athletes during the Tokyo Games. The vacant slots have been taken up by a mixed event in trap, 10 metre air pistol and 10 metre air rifle events.
At the end of Day 1 of the qualifications, Mittal finished at a lowly 51, breaking 41 out of the 50 targets in the two rounds of competition. However, he seemed satisfied with his effort as he hadn’t trained at all before his big debut. “It was good. I think I did pretty well, I scored 19 and 22, even though I had not been training for trap,” he said.
Asked how much did he train for the event before the Nationals, he said: “I did not train. Yesterday was the first time I shot two rounds during the official training. And I shot much better yesterday, it was 21 and 24. I am making little mistakes but will overcome them with some practice.”
The 25-year-old has had a wonderful 2017. A silver medal at the World Cup in New Delhi was followed by a gold at the Acapulco World Cup in March. He then bagged a silver medal in the prestigious World Championship in Moscow, and then capped the wonderful year by winning the Asian Shooting Championships in Astana. The results propelled him to the top of the rankings, released in the first week of October.