Olympian Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar asserted his prowess as he rocketed to the top in both qualification and final in the 50-metre rifle 3-position event in the second Olympic shooting trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Friday.
After trailing by 0.3 point before the last shot of the 45-shot final, Aishwary delivered 10.6 to beat Olympic quota winner Akhil Sheoran by 0.4 point.
More importantly, the 23-year-old Aishwary shot 595 in qualification, much in contrast to his 576 in the first trial, to firmly get into the reckoning for a ticket to Paris.
Akhil Sheoran, topper Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Swapnil Kusale in men’s rifle 3-position event of the Olympic trials. | Photo Credit: Kamesh Srinivasan
Olympic quota winner Swapnil Kusale continued to stay at the top in the overall averages. Akhil and Olympian Chain Singh also had better averages than Aishwary, but the latter can shoot better scores over the next two trials in Bhopal and get rid of his lowest score.
Only the three best scores of the shooters will be considered for selection, and Aishwary with his deemed quota bonus of two points is on par in status with Akhil and Swapnil.
In women’s rifle 3-position, Asian Games gold medallist Sift Kaur Samra continued to assert her dominance in the final, but Ashi Chouksey was on top of the race with her qualification scores of 590 and 585. Olympian Anjum Moudgil was on par with Sift in terms of the qualification scores, while Olympic quota winner Shriyanka Sadangi and Nischal found themselves a little behind.
In men’s air rifle, Sandeep Singh continued to give a headache for the quota winners, world champion Rudrankksh Patil and Arjun Babuta, by topping qualification for the second time, with 632.6.
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In women’s air rifle, Nancy Mandhotra topped qualification with 633.1, to stay ahead of Olympic quota winner Tilottama Sen, while World Championship silver medallist Mehuli Ghosh slipped with a score of 626.8.
In air pistol, Rhythm Sangwan improved her stranglehold with a score of 584, while Varun Tomar (580) was strong in the men’s section, despite shooting one point less than fellow Olympic quota winner Sarabjot Singh and Naveen.
Maheshwari remains in top six of women’s skeet
Maheshwari Chauhan shot 48 out of 50 following rounds of 23 and 25 to stay among the top six in women’s skeet in the Olympic qualification championship in Doha, Qatar, on Friday.
Maheshwari was among 10 shooters who had 48, behind four others who had shot 49.
The other Indian shooters, Areeba Khan (45) and Ganemat Sekhon (44) found themselves further down in the list among 71 shooters.
In the men’s section, Mairaj Ahmad Khan, Sheeraz Sheikh and Angad Vir Singh Bajwa shot 46 out of 50 and could not find themselves in the top-50 in a field of more than 140.
Three more rounds will be shot over the next two days, followed by the finals for the top six.
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