Shooting: World Cups are very important checkpoints on the way to Olympics: Heena Sidhu

Munich, May 22: Former world number 1 and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Heena Sidhu is geared up for the ISSF World Cup in Munich that starts on Wednesday (May 23).

Pistol shooter Heena, who is hoping to test her skills and score consistent high scores in the build-up to world championships, will be competing in three events - the 10-metre air pistol, 25-metre sports pistol and mixed team event (10-metre).

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"The World Cup in Munich is extremely important to figure where I stand before going into the first Olympic qualifiers that will start from the World Championship in September," Heena said on tournament eve.

On our way to Munich. #WorldCup #Shooting #IndianTeam #BonVoyage pic.twitter.com/7eQiL95rB7

— Heena SIDHU (@HeenaSidhu10) May 6, 2018

"We have experience of two Olympic cycles and we are using it to improve our preparations. The CWG, these World Cups are very important checkpoints on our way to the Olympics. These competitions will show the true effects of our training and based on my results we can amend our preparations."

The field includes Serbia's Zorana Arunovic, Ukraine's Olena Kostevych, Greece's Anna Korakaki, France's Celine Goberville and those from China, Korea and Germany besides countrymates Manu Bhaker (10-metre) and Rahi Sarnobat (25m).

Heena says she has worked on physical conditioning and body stability in the two-week training camp in Germany.

"I and my team have been working hard in improving all aspects of my game keeping the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in mind," said the 28-year-old Heena.

At the Munich World Cup, Heena is determined to perform at a consistent level something her team has worked on diligently.

"We are focusing on physical conditioning and body stability. There is some good balancing equipment here so we are making use of it," said coach Ronak Pandit on Heena's preparations.

"And technically, we are working more on match readiness and on our refocus strategies because there can always be a silly mistake by you in a match or someone else doing something that disturbs you, but you need to recover quickly. So we are working on our refocus strategies and bounce back ratios."

Heena will begin her World Cup campaign with the 25-meter sports pistol event qualification precision event on Thursday. The qualification rapid fire stage will be held on Friday, with the finals slated on the same day.

On May 27, Sunday, she will be in action in the 10-metre air pistol followed by Monday's mixed team category event.

"I am in sound technical physical and mental state and my equipment is in top notch condition as well. I love competing in Munich and look forward to the competition," Heena said.

The finals will be telecast live on www.issf-sports.org.

Source: Press Release