The 23-year-old Rana is riding high on superb form which saw him claim both centrefire individual and team golds besides clinching two silvers in air pistol at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in September from where India returned with a healthy haul of four gold, two silver and two bronze medals from a squad of 16 shooters.

Trap shooters Mansher Singh and young teammate Manavjit Singh took the pairs gold there while Rhodes scholar Roopa Unnikrishnan lifted the stature of Indian women's shooting by claiming the sport-rifle (prone) gold with a Games record to boot. Rana, whose exploits have raised Indian shooting's profile, will seek to retain the title in his favourite centrefire pistol event which he struck as a teenager in the1994 Games.