Olympic selection trials: Manu tops women’s air pistol; Valarivan, Jindal shine in air rifle

Since Manu Bhaker has finished on top in both air pistol and sports pistol, one of the quota places could be swapped for a woman trap shooter, as there is no scope elsewhere.

Manu Bhaker during the Olympic selection trials at the MP shooting academy in Bhopal. | Photo Credit: The Hindu/RITU RAJ KONWAR

Olympian Elavenil Valarivan and Ramita Jindal consolidated their position by placing 1-2 in women’s air rifle as the Olympic shooting trials concluded at the Madhya Pradesh Academy on Sunday.

World championship silver medallist Mehuli Ghosh who looks to have lost the selection race, did well to finish third, while Tilottama Sen missed out on adding crucial points that would have helped fight her case.

In women’s air pistol, Manu Bhaker asserted herself yet again, as she beat Asian Games gold medallist and Olympic quota winner Palak Gulia by 4.4 points for the top spot. Rhythm Sangwan placed third ahead of Surbhi Rao, while Esha Singh did not shoot the final.

Out of the 16 Olympic quota winners in pistol and rifle, nine did not finish in top-2 in the events in which they had won the quota. Rhythm Sangwan and Esha Singh did well to trap their Olympic ticket in the alternate events of air pistol and sports pistol, after having won quota the other way around.

So, effectively seven Olympic quota winners looked to have missed their flight, even though some of the cases may come to life when the selection committee convenes to finalise the team.

Since Manu Bhaker has finished on top in both air pistol and sports pistol, one of the quota places could be swapped for a woman trap shooter, as there is no scope elsewhere.

Indian shooting had managed to win 21 of the maximum possible 24 Olympic quota places for the Paris Games, and all the 16 slots in rifle and pistol.

Results

10m air pistol: Men: 1. Ravinder Singh 242.2 (576); 2. Varun Tmar 239.4 (577); 3. Sarabjot Singh 218.9 (584); 4. Naveen 199.0 (574); 5. Arjun Singh Cheema 177.6 (583).

Women: 1. Manu Bhaker 240.8 (581); 2. Palak Gulia 236.4 (573); 3. Rhythm Sangwan 212.4 (572); 4. Surbhi Rao 193.4 (577).

10m air rifle: Men: 1. Divyansh Singh Panwar 253.3 (630.2); 2. Arjun Babuta 250.0 (624.7); 3. Rudrankksh Patil 229.5 (630.6); 4. Sandeep Singh 208.7 (628.3); 5. Sri Karthik Sabari Raj 186.7 (631.6).

Women: 1. Elavenil Valarivan 254.3 (633.0); 2. Ramita Jindal 253.3 (636.4); 3. Mehuli Ghosh 230.3 (633.1); 4. Tilottama Sen 207.3 (628.8); 5. Nancy Mandhotra 184.9 (630.6).