New Delhi: Wheelchair-bound 10-metre air rifle shooter Sriharsha Devareddi is usually not satisfied easily with his performance. Even though he booked a berth in the Indian team that will compete in this month’s World Cup, he felt he could have performed better, but for a bad throat.
Devareddi scored 629.2 points in a 60-shot match in the SH-2 category of the national selection trials and was picked in the 24-member team, including coaches, which will compete in the Al Ain World Shooting Para Sports World Cup. The tournament will be held from March 15-23 in the United Arab Emirates.
“My aim was to score more than 630 points. But a bad throat spoiled my show,” Devareddi, 41, told IANS.
During the January national selection trials, Devareddi had shot 634.5 points. The national camp for the World Cup will commence next week at the Karni Singh Shooting Ranges.
The Indian team will also compete in the Wroclaw World Shooting Para Sports World Cup from April 10 in Poland.
“Both World Cups are important for me as they will act as qualifying events for the June World Cup in Peru, which is an Olympic qualifying competition,” said the Bengaluru-based Devareddi.
Sidhartha Babu, Manish Narwal, Deepinder Singh, Avani Lekhara, Rahul Jakhar, Pooja Aggarwal, Nisha Kanwar, and Rubina Francis are other prominent shooters in the squad for the World Cup.
Earlier, Devareddi had won the 10-metre air rifle gold with a score of 631 points in the SH-2 category in the maiden National Para Shooting Championship held at Manav Rachna University Campus in Faridabad.
The nine-day National Para Shooting Championship will conclude on Tuesday.
