Manu Bhaker and Adarsh Singh topped the qualification rounds of the women’s 25m pistol and men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol Olympic Selection Trial T4 respectively, as all five athletes in the event headed into the finals to be held at the MP State Shooting Academy ranges on Tuesday.
The men went first as Anish Bhanwala took a healthy four-point lead from the first precision stage into the second rapid-fire stage, only to be pipped by Singh on countback, after both posted scores of 583 with the exact same number of 24-hits in the inner 10-ring.
Ankur Goel too shot the same score but had 10 fewer hits in the inner ring, while Vijayveer Sidhu clinched fourth with a 581, scoring just one inner-10 more than Bhavesh Shekhawat.
Olympian Bhaker in the women’s 25M Pistol, also pipped Esha Singh on inner-10s after both shot an identical 586. Rhythm Sangwan came in third while Abhidnya Patil (582) and Simranpreet Kaur Brar (564) were fourth and fifth respectively.
On pure calculations and taking best of three scores, Bhaker and Esha take the top two spots in the women’s event, while Bhanwala and Sidhu are 1-2 in the men’s rapid-fire pistol, irrespective of what happens in the finals.
The final team for the Paris Olympics will however only be declared after a meeting of the selection committee post the trials.
