All the 13 shooters, currently competing in Europe, will embark on a four-week journey to Sydney in the first week of February, in preparation for the big event that takes place in August.

According to the NRAI, the back-up team members have done exceedingly well in almost all the competitions they had participated in. “They have been included in the preparatory squad for any eventuality and could replace those who have actually won the ‘quota’ place for the country,” said chief coach Sunny Thomas.

Seasoned rifle shooter Suma Shirur is among those selected for the core group. Shirur, who represented the country in Athens, wasn’t impressive in 2007 and failed to win a quota place for Beijing. She, however, came into groove in Germany to get NRAI’s nod for Sydney.

Tejaswani Sawant and Priya Aggarwal, the two main stays of women’s rifle shooting, have also been included in the squad. Going by the performance of the national air rifle champion PT Ragunath, NRAI couldn’t have ignored him a place in the core group. He, apart from an impressive performance in Germany, put up a brave show to win the Asian title.

But the rest of the pistol squad —Omkar Singh and Amanpreet Singh—need to work harder to match up Samresh Jung’s performance, including in the air weapon category. Jung won a gold and a silver in the Gyor competitions.

After their month-long stint in Sydney, the back-up team will return home for further preparation. However, those with ‘quota’ berths will skip the season-opening World Cup in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, beginning from March 21.

They will, however, participate in the other three World Cups, including the one in Beijing in April.

The Beijing event will be organised at the same ranges where the Olympic shooting will be held. It will give all participants an opportunity to have a feel of the ranges prior to the summer Games. The Indians will participate in Munich (Germany) and Milan (Italy) World Cups.

The NRAI will be sending all top shooters, except those bound for Beijing, to China to compete in the second Asian air gun championships in Nanjing.

The NRAI, however, has not named any substitute for the shotgun shooters. Three of them — Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Mansher Singh — are training on their own and will join the Indian squads in all the World Cups before the Games. They are also expected to participate in the Asian Shotgun championship in Jaipur next month.