Olympic Selection Trials: Aishwary Pratap tops men’s rifle three-position, Manu Bhaker beats Esha Singh in air pistol event
Olympian Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar sustained his strong run and shot 591 to top men’s rifle 3-position event in the fourth Olympic shooting trials at the Madhya Pradesh Academy on Friday.
After an indifferent start in the first trial when he stumbled to a score of 576 in Delhi, Aishwary has been pretty strong with scores of 595 and 590 in the last two trials. He thus ensured his spot for the Games.
Olympic quota winner Swapnil Kussale ended up with the lowest total of 573, but had done enough earlier with scores of 592, 587 and 587 to retain his quota for Paris, ahead of Olympic quota winner Akhil Sheoran, Olympian Chain Singh and Niraj Kumar. From the four trials, shooters can drop their lowest score and add the decimal points for placing top three in finals, apart from adding Olympic quota bonus points for the ranking aggregate.
In women’s rifle 3-position event, Asian Games gold medallist and world record holder Sift Kaur Samra shot 593 to seal her berth. Olympian Anjum Moudgil shot 588 to seal the second Olympic berth, comfortably ahead of Ashi Chouksey, Olympic quota winner Shriyanka Sadangi and Nischal.
Sri Karthik Sabari Raj did his conifdence some good by beating Divyansh Singh Panwar to the top spot following two shoot-off rounds after the two were tied on 252.5. Arjun Babuta placed third, but World Champion Rudrankksh Patil and Sandeep Singh stay ahead in the race for Paris.
Manu Bhaker asserted her prowess by winning the women’s air pistol, 0.8 point ahead of Esha Singh. The two already have their berth for Paris in sports pistol, and aspire to get a second start in air pistol. Rhythm Sangwan, the leader in the event, was third ahead of Surbhi Rao and Asian Games gold medallist Palak Gulia.
In men’s air pistol, Naveen shot 246.8, a score better than the world record of 246.5, to beat Sarabjot Singh to the top spot with a 4.6 point margin.
Ramita Jindal topped women’s air rifle, half a point ahead of Olympian Elavenil Valarivan.
The results:
10m air pistol: Men: 1. Naveen 246.8 (579); 2. Sarabjot Singh 242.4 (581); 3. Arjun Singh Cheema 218.8 (583); 4. Varun Tomar 197.3 (577); 5. Ravinder Singh 176.9 (581).
Women:1. Manu Bhaker 241.0 (577); 2. Esha Singh 240.2 (576); 3. Rhythm Sangwan 220.3 (573); 4. Surbhi Rao 199.3 (574); 5. Palak Gulia 179.1 (576).
10m air rifle: Men: 1. Sri Karthik Sabari Raj 252.5 (10.4) 630.5; 2. Divyansh Singh Panwar 252.5 (10.3) 631.4; 3. Arjun Babuta 229.9 (632.2); 4. Rudrankksh Patil 207.1 (632.0); 5. Sandeep Singh 185.9 (631.6).
Women: 1. Ramita Jindal 252.6 (630.8); 2. Elavenil Valarivan 252.1 (634.4); 3. Nancy Mandhotra 230.99 (629.4); 4. Mehuli Ghosh 209.1 (628.4); 5. Tilottama Sen 187.6 (632.4).
50m rifle 3-position: Men: 1. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar 591; 2. Niraj Kumar 586; 3. Akhil Sheoran 586; 4. Chain Singh 586; 5. Swapnil Kusale 573.
Women: 1. Sift Kaur Samra 593; 2. Anjum Moudgil 588; 3. Nischal 587; 4. Shriyanka Sadangi 580; 5. Ashi Chouksey 577.