New Delhi: Double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker missed out on the top spot in women’s 25m pistol in her return to competitive shooting after the Paris Olympics. Manu finished second behind Rhythm Sangwan who won the event on day five of the Rifle/Pistol National Selection Trials (Group A) in the national capital on Wednesday.
Paris Olympics bronze medallist Swapnil Kusale claimed the victory in men’s 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) T1 while Arya Rajesh Borse emerged victorious in the women’s 10m air rifle T2 events at Dr Karni Singh Shooting range (DKSSR).
Haryana’s Rhythm trumped Bhaker, winner of bronze medals in the women’s individual and mixed team events in the Paris Olympics, to take the top spot. Rythym came out on top after a couple of shoot-offs from the final group that had four other Olympians in the reckoning.
Swapnil showed his class in the men’s 3P T1 final while Borse recorded a memorable triumph in a high-scoring women’s air rifle T2 final. She was a whisker away from the world record score achieved at the same venue.
Rhythm wins a thriller
Rythym overcame a stiff challenge from Manu who started brilliantly in the first competition after the Paris Games, topping the women’s 25m pistol trials for a second straight time. She amassed 294 in the second rapid-fire qualifying round finishing with a total of 591 while Punjab’s Simranpreet Kaur Brar was second with 588.
Four other Olympians – Rahi Sarnobat (588, 3rd), Esha Singh (586, 4th), Heena Sidhu (580, 5th) and Sangwan (578, 7th) qualified for the final round.
Rhythm and Manu were the last two shooters tied with 37 hits after the 10-series of five shots each. After finishing tied 4-4 in the first shoot-off, Sangwan took the decisive 4-3 lead in the second shoot-off. Meanwhile, Simranpreet finished third
Swapnil, who qualified in the third spot for the men’s 3P T1 final with a score of 592 out of 600, edged past Akhil Sheoran with a score of 465.1. Seasoned shooter Chain Singh finished third.
Haryana’s Rhythm Sangwan edged past Manu Bhaker, winner of bronze medals in the women’s individual and mixed team events in the Paris Olympics, to take the top spot. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
