Esha, Vidarsa, Parth win on Day 3 of National Selection Trials

Olympian  and  reigning mixed team pistol world champion Esha Singh, was among the three winners on day three of the  National Selection Trials 3&4 for Group A Rifle and Pistol shooters, currently underway at the Trishul Shooting range in Dehradun.

While Telangana’s Esha won the 25m pistol women T3 competition, Kerala’s Vidarsa Vinod took the 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) T4 honours and Maharashtra’s Parth Rakesh Mane, won the 10m air rifle men T4 title, in what was another day of intense competition among the best rifle and pistol shooters of India.

Esha shot a 580 to take third spot in qualifications, but stamped her class in the finals when needed most that is towards the end stages, to completely blow away Maharashtra’s Abhidnya Ashok Patil, who had to settle for silver. Tamil Nadu’s Niveditha Nair came third.

In the men’s 10m air rifle T4, Uma Mahesh Maddineni (Winner of the T3 trial), took the early lead in the finals, which also featured former world number one and world record holder Divyansh Singh Panwar and three shooters from the Army compete.

Junior World Championship medalist Parth, was hovering around third throughout the initial stages, went into joint lead with Aishwary, only after the 16th single shot of the eliminations stage. The 17th, a 10.7, took him to sole lead and he held on gamely after that to take the win, finishing with 251.8.

Aishwary’s chase fell 0.3 short of Parth as he took second, while Uma settled for third place on the day.

In the women’s 3P T4 final, Kerala’s Vidarsa Vinod got the better of a star-studded field, finishing with 462.7 after 45-shots, to edge out Punjab’s former world championship silver medalist and two-time Olympian Anjum Moudgil by 0.3 points. Haryana’s Nischal, a world cup silver-medalist, was third.

The trials continue on day four on Friday, with two finals, the 10m air rifle women T3 and the 25m rapid-fire pistol men T4, on the roster.