New Delhi, March 5 Following a dominant performance at the 2026 Asian Rifle/Pistol Championship on home soil, where India topped the medal tally with an impressive 76 medals, including 39 gold, 18 silver, and 19 bronze, top Indian rifle and pistol shooters will now focus on the National Selection Trials 3 (Group A), scheduled at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in Delhi from March 6-10, 2026, ahead of a busy international and domestic calendar beginning next month.
Almost all of India's top shooters will compete in 10 events, which include all eight Olympic events plus the men's and women's rifle prone competitions. Athletes will aim to achieve scores that will make their case for selection in the national squad for international competitions in the second half of the year.
The Rifle/Pistol Selection Trials 3 and 4 for Group B athletes will also begin tomorrow, which will be held at the M.P. State Shooting Academy in Bhopal from March 6 to 22. After the selection trials, the national squad athletes will begin their coaching camp in New Delhi from March 10 to 21.
The national squad camp for shotgun athletes also began today in New Delhi, with skeet shooters reporting first. Trap shooters will report for the national camp on March 8.
The national squad camp will be followed by a pre-event camp prior to the ISSF World Cup Shotgun, the first World Cup of the year, which will be held in Tangier, Morocco from March 21-April 3.
The Indian teams for the first two Rifle/Pistol (Granada and Munich) and Shotgun (Tangier and Almaty) ISSF World Cup stages of the year have already been announced.
The new Olympic cycle leading up to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics begins this year, with the first quota places set to be decided at the ISSF World Championship Doha 2026 in October–November. The season will also feature the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026, where Indian shooters will aim to deliver another strong performance. With these major events on the horizon, both domestic and international competitions will play a crucial role in team selections across rifle, pistol, and shotgun disciplines.
