Indian sports wrap, January 23: Shahu, Sakshi score more than National Records in Shooting Selection Trials
SHOOTING
Shahu, Sakshi shine in Air Rifle T2
Maharashtra’s Sakshi Sunil Padekar and Railways’ Shahu Tushar Mane bettered national record scores in the finals and qualification rounds of the 10m Air Rifle women and men events, respectively at the National Selection Trials 1&2 Group A, which is currently underway at Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi.
Sakshi shot 254.3 in the T2 final while Shahu Tushar Mane scored 637.1 in the qualification. Both these scores are better than the national record, however, this will not be considered as an official national record. Olympian Arjun Babuta won the T2 final of 10m Air Rifle Men, while Sakshi claimed the women’s 10m Air Rifle T2 final. Olympian Rahi Sarnobat claimed the T2 final of 25m Pistol Women.
Sakshi topped the qualification round with an impressive 634.4 before backing it up with a superb 254.3 in the final, better than the existing national record score, set by Elavenil Valarivan in the Asian Shooting Championship last year, to seal first place in emphatic fashion.
Kerala’s Vidarsa K Vinod shot 252.0 in the final to finish second, while World Championship bronze medallist Elavenil Valarivan, who was second in qualification with 633.4, claimed third place with a final score of 231.4.
Olympian Arjun Babuta claimed top honours in a closely contested 10m Air Rifle Men Trial 2 final, finishing with 253.4. Babuta, who had qualified second with 632.4, elevated his performance in the final to edge Maharashtra’s Parth Rakesh Mane by the narrowest of margins. Parth finished just 0.1 points behind on 253.3 to take second place with both athletes shooting 10.8 in their final shot. Navy’s Kiran Ankush Jadhav secured third with 231.2.
Shahu, who had bettered the national record score in qualification with an outstanding 637.1, was unable to convert that advantage in the final and finished sixth with 166.5 after a shoot-off with Haryana’s Samarvir Singh (145.2).
Former Asian Games and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Rahi Sarnobat finished on top to claim gold in the 25m Pistol Women Trial 2 final, accumulating 43 hits in a dominant display. Haryana’s Vibhuti Bhatia once again impressed to secure second place with 35 hits.
Double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker, who had led the qualification round with 589-24x, settled for third place with 31 hits.
– Team Sportstar
Published on Jan 23, 2026