Olympians Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Raiza Dhillon and Mairaj Ahmad Khan will spearhead the Indian challenge at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup 2026 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, starting on Sunday.
India head into the competition after a disappointing outing in the opening leg in Tangier, Morocco, where the team returned without a medal. The 20-member Indian squad in Almaty, of which eight will compete for Ranking Points Only (RPO), has a few changes from the one which competed in Morocco.
The Almaty shooting meet is the second of four ISSF Shotgun World Cups this year and will feature 284 shooters from 42 National Olympic Committees.
Anantjeet Singh Naruka, who narrowly missed an Olympic medal in mixed skeet at Paris 2024, returns to the setup. The reigning Asian champion had skipped the Tangier leg and is back to spearhead the men’s skeet challenge along with two-time Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan.
Raiza Dhillon, who represented India at the Paris 2024 Olympics, headlines the women’s skeet field.
Bhowneesh Mendiratta, Prithviraj Tondaiman and Kynan Chenai, all of whom competed in Morocco, are not part of India’s men’s trap squad in Almaty. Vivaan Kapoor will lead India’s challenge in men’s trap.
Winners of individual events in Almaty will qualify for the ISSF World Cup Final, set to be held in Rome, Italy, in December.
Indian shooting squad: Men’s skeet: Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Gurjoat Singh, Mairaj Ahmad Khan, Bhavtegh Singh Gill (RPO), Abhay Singh Sekhon (RPO).
Men’s trap: Ahvar Rizvi, Vivaan Kapoor, Shapath Bharadwaj, Ali Aman Elahi (RPO), Udaivir Singh Jaijee (RPO).
Women’s trap: Pragati Dubey, Neeru, Manisha Keer, Vidhi Singh (RPO), Varsha Varman (RPO).
Women’s skeet: Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Ganemat Sekhon, Raiza Dhillon, Rashmmi Rathore (RPO), Vanshika Tiwari (RPO).
Mixed team trap: Ahvar Rizvi, Pragati Dubey, Vivaan Kapoor, Neeru.
