Veteran Sanjeev Rajput showed good form shooting competitively for the first time since the coronavirus-induced lockdown to win the 50m rifle 3-posittions T1 trials at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting range in Delhi on Thursday.
Rajput, who has his eyes set on the Tokyo Olympics later this year having secured a quota place, shot a high 1181 in qualifying to top the 19-man field. He was a clear two points ahead of second-placed youngster Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, who will most probably be partnering him in Tokyo.
In the finals too, the senior pro was given a good fight by another youngster Swapnil Kusale, before decisively pulling away with a superb 10.6 for his first standing position shot, to Swapnil’s 9.7. He did not look back and finished tops with 459.9 to Swapnil’s 459.1. Akhil Sheoran finished third with 445.6
Punjab youngster Abhay Singh Sekhon of Punjab won both the senior and junior men’s skeet T1 trials while Ganemat Sekhon outclassed a field of 13 to win in seniors while Raiza Dhillon won the juniors in the women’s skeet event.
In qualification, it was Gurjoat Singh, the overnight leader, who topped with a score of 121, while Abhay Sekhon came in behind him with a 120. In the finals however, Abhay shot 56 out of 60 to win. Madhya Pradesh’s Arjun Thakur came in second with 52 while Gurjoat finished outside the medals.
Ganemat Sekhon was a class apart in women’s skeet. She topped qualifying with a 120, which was a huge six points ahead of second place. In the finals too, her winning score of 55, was a clear four points ahead of second finishing Zahra Deesawala.
Raiza Dhillon shot 51 in the Junior Women’s Skeet T1 finals to get the better of Areeba Khan who shot 49.