National trials

Esha, Simranpreet and Manu, toppers of sports pistol on Monday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Manu Bhaker topped qualification in the 25m sports pistol in the National shooting trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Monday.

Manu shot 587 to be two points ahead of the eventual winner of the final, Simranpreet Kaur Brar. In the title clash, Simranpreet beat Esha Singh 36-35. Esha compensated for her low score of 578 with a sterling performance in the final as Manu was pushed to third.

Arshdeep Kaur, Abhidnya Patil, Annu Raj Singh, T.S. Divya and world record holder Rhythm Sangwan were the others to make the final. Multiple World Cup gold medallist Rahi Sarnobat shot 575 and was placed 10th.

World Champion Rudrankksh Patil continued to strengthen his position by topping both qualification and final in 10m air rifle. He beat Hriday Hazarika by 1.9 points in the final after both had shot 633.0 in qualification.

World University championship silver medallist Smit Moradiya was placed third ahead of Umamahesh Maddineni, Niraj Kumar, Arjun Babuta, Surya Pratap Banshtu and former world No.1 Divyansh Singh Panwar. The scores were pretty high for everyone with the least being 631.9, in making the final.

Equally, Sift Kaur Samra topped both qualification and final with a dominant performance in the women’s rifle 3-position event. Sift shot 595 in qualification and then 469.8 in the final, which was 0.2 point better than her world record shot in the Asian Games in Hangzhou.

Surabhi Bharadwaj climbed to third ahead of Nischal, Ashi Chouksey, Ayushi Podder, Bhakti Bhaskar and Heena Gohei. Anjum Moudgil (589) and Manini Kaushik (588) missed the final this time after faring well in the first trial.

The results: 10m air rifle: Men: 1. Rudrankksh Patil 253.3 (633.0); 2. Hriday Hazarika 251.4 (633.0); 3. Smit Moradiya 229.1 (632.8).

Women: 25m sports pistol: 1. Simranpreet Kaur Brar 36 (585); 2. Esha Singh 35 (578); 3. Manu Bhaker 31 (587). 50m rifle 3-position: 1. Sift Kaur Samra 469.8 (595); 2. Shriyanka Sadangi 465.2 (592); 3. Surabhi Bharadwaj 454.2 (592).