Mumbai, Dec 23 (PTI) The country's top 20 Air Rifle shooters, including reigning junior world champion Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, will compete in the 'RR Lakshya Cup 2021' that will be held without spectators in neighbouring Panvel on Saturday.

Former Olympian and Lakshya Shooting Club founder Suma Shirur said it is always nice to see men and women compete in same event and that is where Lakshya Cup stands out.

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"The last two years have been very difficult for shooting fraternity. Some shooters have taken good advantage of this COVID 19 lockdown, whereas some others have had great difficulty," Suma said.

According to Suma, Rajshree Sancheti from Delhi, who is the reigning 10m ar rifle national champion, Kiran Jadhav from the Navy, who is the national champion in 50m 3P and Shriyanka Sadangi, national champion in 50m 3P women -- among others will compete in the tournament.

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"The event will be held without spectators and all the shooters and the shooters and the volunteers will be asked to undergo a RT-PCR test. We have a very strong field of shooters and it is a star-studded field and each one has brought laurels to the country," added Suma, who is an Arjuna awardee.

The Lakshya Cup has been the very first of its kind promoting gender parity, Suma stressed.

The winner will be richer by Rs one lakh while the winner in the junior category will be richer by Rs 50,000.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)