With the South Asian Games scheduled for January next year, Bangladeshi shooters are getting opportunities to test their standard through two international tournaments -- the 8th Air Gun Championship in India this month and the 13th Asian Shooting Championship in Kuwait in November.

A total of nine shooters including four women who have been in a training camp for nearly three months, are scheduled to leave here for India on Thursday with a target of replicating their training performance in the Air Gun Championship, which starts on September 25 in New Delhi.

“The shooters have been performing well in training and I want them to perform accordingly in the championship,” coach Saiful Alam Rinky said. “However, we will be trying to win a medal which (bronze) was once won by Asif Hossain Khan.”

Rinky is not only hopeful about the senior shooters, but he is also optimistic about the junior ones.

“There will definitely be hope over senior shooters like [Abdullahel] Baki, [Sharmin Akter] Ratna but we are also hoping for good performance from the junior ones,” said the former national shooter.

Robiul Islam, Shakil Ahmed, Sharmin Akter Jr and Jui Chakma are the junior members of the squad, which also includes seniors Baki, Jesimuzzaman, Riasatul Islam, Ratna and Syeda Atkiya Hasan.

The shooters were given a specific target (624 points for men and 413 points for women) for selection, with national runner-up Anjan Kumar Singh and third-place finisher Shovon Chowdhury failing in their pursuits.