Olympic Shooting trials: Anjum, Swapnil take top spot in 50-metre rifle 3P event

In women’s air pistol, Olympian Manu Bhaker shot 577 to stay one point ahead of Asian Games gold medallist Palak Gulia and Esha Singh.

Anjum Moudgil won the 50m rifle 3 position women during the Olympic selection trials at the Madhya Pradesh Shooting Academy in Bhopal on Thursday. | Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR/The Hindu

Olympian Anjum Moudgil celebrated her climb to the top of the race, by winning the final of the 50-metre rifle 3-position event in the third Olympic shooting trials at the Madhya Pradesh Academy on Thursday.

Anjum shot 463.9 after leading right through the 45-shot final, to beat the Asian Games gold medallist and world record holder Sift Kaur Samra by 1.9 points. Ashi Chouksey placed third ahead of Olympic quota winners Shriyanka Sadangi and Nischal.

In the men’s rifle 3-position event, Swapnil Kusale shot 463.7 to beat fellow Olympic quota winner Akhil Sheoran by 2.1 points for the top spot. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar settled for third place, but has already climbed to the top-2 in the race for clinching the Olympic berths.

In women’s air pistol, Olympian Manu Bhaker shot 577 to stay one point ahead of Asian Games gold medallist Palak Gulia and Esha Singh. Rhythm Sangwan’s form dipped a bit as she could score only 573, but was still sitting on top of the table thanks to her earlier two good scores in Delhi.

In men’s air pistol, Arjun Singh Cheema topped with 583, but Varun Tomar stayed on top of the list despite shooting 577.

In women’s air rifle, World Championship silver medallist Mehuli Ghosh was unable to revive her fortunes as she shot 628.4, the lowest among the five shooters. Olympian Elavenil Valarivan surged into contention with a top score of 634.4. Tilottama Sen stayed on top despite shooting 632.4 and Nancy Mandhotra lost her overall lead with a 629.4.

In men’s air rifle, World champion Rudrankksh Patil showed some semblance of good form with 632.0, the second best behind Arjun Babuta (632.2). Sandeep Singh continued to stay ahead of the pack despite shooting 631.6, a relatively low score for him after the dominant 634.4 and 632.6 in the first two trials.

The results:

10m air pistol:

Men: 1. Arjun Singh Cheema 583; 2. Ravinder Singh 581; 3. Sarabjot Singh 581; 4. Naveen 579; 5. Varun Tomar 577.

Women: 1. Manu Bhaker 577; 2. Palak Gulia 576; 3. Esha Singh 576; 4. Surbhi Rao 574; 5. Rhythm Sangwan 573.

10m air rifle:

Men: 1. Arjun Babuta 632.2; 2. Rudrankksh Patil 632.0; 3. Sandeep Singh 631.6; 4. Divyansh Singh Panwar 631.4; 5. Sri Karthik Sabari Raj 630.5.

Women: 1. Elavenil Valarivan 634.4; 2. Tilottama Sen 632.4; 3. Ramita Jindal 630.8; 4. Nancy Mandhotra 629.4; 5. Mehuli Ghosh 628.4.

50m rifle 3-position:

Men: 1. Swapnil Kusale 463.7 (587); 2. Akhil Sheoran 461.6 (584); 3. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar 451.9 (590); 4. Niraj Kumar 441.4 (583); 5. Chain Singh 429.4 (583).

Women: 1. Anjum Moudgil 463.9 (592); 2. Sift Kaur Samra 462.0 (589); 3. Ashi Chouksey 447.3 (585); 4. Shriyanka Sadangi 436.5 (585); 5. Nischal 426.0 (585).