Rhythm Sangwan beat qualification topper and Olympic quota winner Manu Bhaker 38-37 in the women’s 25-metre sports pistol event in the National shooting selection trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range on Wednesday.
After six series of five shots, Rhythm had taken a two point lead over Manu. Thereafter, it was a tough contest, and Manu could only bridge the gap by one point in the next four series.
Simranpreet Kaur Brar placed third ahead of multiple World Cup gold medallist Rahi Sarnobat, Jaspreet Kaur, Neha, TS Divya and Shital Preetam Desai.
In the second trial of women’s air rifle, Ramita Jindal prevailed yet again as she beat Narmada Nithin by 0.9 point for the top spot. Ramita shot 10.6 on the last, to the 10.0 by Narmada.
Nancy, who had shot a commendable 634.0 in qualification, placed third ahead of Elavenil Valarivan, Shruti, NIsha Kanwar, Olympic quota winner Shriyanka Sadangi and qualification topper Sonam Maskar (634.5).
In men’s rifle 3-position event, it was the turn of World Cup gold medallist and Olympic quota winner, Akhil Sheoran to top the field ahead of the other Olympic quota winner Swapnil Kusale by 1.4 point. Both had qualified strongly with 592 and 591 which should augur well for the Olympic preparation.
Olympian Chain Singh placed third, while NIraj Kumar, Adriyan Karmakar, Nishan Budha, Ganga Singh finished fourth to seventh respectively. Rishi Gireesh made the final with 587, but opted to skip it.
The results: 10m air rifle: Women: 1. Ramita Jindal 252.0 (631.8); 2. Narmada Nithin 251.1 (631.6); 3. Nancy 230.4 (634.0).
25m sports pistol: Women: 1. Rhythm Sangwan 38 (580); 2. Manu Bhaker 37 (589); 3. Simranpreet Kaur Brar 30 (578).
50m rifle 3-position: 1. Akhil Sheoran 465.2 (592); 2. Swapnil Kusale 463.8 (591); 3. Chain Singh 451.6 (585).
