Paris 2024: Bhavesh, Simranpreet win second 25m Pistol Olympic Selection Trials

Bhavesh shot 34 in the RFP final, comfortably holding off OST T1 winner Anish Bhanwala (29) while Simranpreet pipped Manu Bhaker

(L-R) Manu Bhaker, Simranpreet Kaur Brar and Esha Singh in a three-way race in women’s sports pistol. | Photo Credit: Kamesh Srinivasan/The Hindu

Simranpreet Kaur Brar announced her strong presence by winning the final of the 25-metre sports pistol in the second Olympic shooting trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Monday.

Simranpreet beat the winner of the first trial, Manu Bhaker, 37-35, while Esha Singh slipped to the third spot despite shooting three perfect rounds of five in the final.

Olympic quota winner and world record holder in the event, Rhythm Sangwan rose to the fourth spot ahead of Abhidnya Patil but will have plenty to catch up in the second stage of the trials later, owing to below-par scores in the qualification stage so far.

In men’s rapid-fire pistol, Bhavesh Shekhawat scored a resounding 34-29 victory over the winner of the first trial Anish Bhanwala, to strongly stake his claim in the race for the Paris Olympics.

Vijayveer Sidhu had a washout series and thus despite winning two shoot-off 5-3 to avoid the fifth and fourth spots, he had to end up third.

All three shooters have almost similar averages and thus it should be interesting to see how it pans out in the second stage of the trials in Bhopal next month. Of course, both Anish and Vijayveer have the cushion of two bonus points for winning the Olympic quota.

The results:

25m rapid fire pistol: Men: 1. Bhavesh Shekhawat 34 (580); 2. Anish Bhanwala 29 (582); 3. Vijayveer Sidhu 22 (580); 4. Adarsh Singh 17 (571); 5. Ankur Goel (573).

25m sports pistol: Women: 1. Simranpreet Kaur Brar 37 (577); 2. Manu Bhaker 35 (585); 3. Esha Singh 30 (581); 4. Rhythm Sangwan 24 (566); 5. Abhidnya Patil 16 (572).