Shooting Olympic trials: Anjum Moudgil, Aishwary Pratap shine in rifle 3P qualification

Olympian and World Championship silver medallist Anjum Moudgil took a significant step forward by shooting 592 in the women’s rifle 3-position event in the fourth Olympic selection trials at the Madhya Pradesh Academy on Wednesday.

Anjum had 192 in kneeling, 199 in prone and 195 in standing positions, as she stayed ahead of Asian Games gold medallist and world record holder Sift Kaur Samra (589) and Ashi Chouksey (585). Nischal and Olympic quota winner Shriyanka Sadangi also shot 585 each, but that does not lift their overall fortunes much in the race for the two slots in the event for Paris.

The finals will be on Thursday but will provide only decimal bonus points for the top three.

READ | Federation Cup 2024: Athletics Federation of India hopeful of sending 35 athletes to Paris Olympics

In the men’s rifle 3-position event, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar continued to step up as he topped qualification with 590, three points better than Olympic quota winner Swapnil Kusale. The other Olympic quota winner and World Cup gold medallist, Akhil Sheoran, slipped a bit with 584.

With the best three of the four scores being taken into consideration, the equations can change significantly till the last score is shot.

The results (qualification):

Rifle 3-position event:

Men: 1. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar 590; 2. Swapnil Kusale 587; 3. Akhil Sheoran 584; 4. Chain Singh 583; 5. Niraj Kumar 583.

Women: 1. Anjum Moudgil 592; 2. Sift Kaur Samra 589; 3. Ashi Chouksey 585; 4. Nischal 585; 5. Shriyanka Sadangi 585.