Manu makes strong start to season

Manu makes strong start to season

New Delhi: Back in action after six months, Paris Olympics double Olympics bronze medalist Manu Bhaker has made a strong start to the season as she topped qualification of 25m sports pistol in the first selection trials, and led the field in the second trials (T2) after the precision round at the Karni Singh Range here on Tuesday.

Manu shot a brilliant 297 out of 300 in the precision round. The rapid-fire round and the final will be held on Wednesday. In the first selection trials, Manu scored 587 to top the field. In the final on Monday, she overcame a slow start to finish with bronze behind winner Simranpreet Kaur and second-placed Esha Singh, who is also competing in her first event after the Paris Olympics.

Manu will also compete in the trials of the 10m air pistol -- the event in which she won two bronze medals in Paris.

The teams for the back-to-back ISSF World Cups in Argentina and Peru in April will be picked based on the scores of the two selection trials. The major event of the year will be ISSF World Championships in November.

2022 World Champion Rudrankksh Patil, in 10m air rifle, and Asian Games champion Sift Kaur Samra, in women’s rifle three positions, have shown a hot streak of form in these trials. They won back-to-back selection trials. Rudrankksh, who narrowly missed the cut for Paris, was second in qualification with a score 633.0 of the second trials, though only on countback to Hriday Hazarika of Assam. In the final, Rudrankksh shot 253.3 to finish on top with Hazarika taking silver.

Earlier, Rudrankksh had come first in qualification (T1) with a score of 633.3 ahead of Paris Olympian Arjun Babuta and then beat him in the final, shooting a strong 254.9 pts.

Sift, after winning gold at the National Games has continued her good run. She finished on top in qualification (T2) with a high score of 595 and won the final with a dominating score of 469.8 -- 0.2 over her own existing world record in the event that she created at the Asian Games.

In the first qualification, Sift was placed seventh with a score of 589. Odisha’s Shriyanka Sadangi was at first place with an excellent score of 594. In the finals though, Sift was way ahead of the field (465.6) to come first. Haryana’s Himani Poonia was 2.3 points behind in second place and seasoned Anjum Moudgil came third.

In women’s 10m air rifle, Sonam Uttam Maskar won T1 final (253.3 pts) after securing top place in the qualification (633.9 pts). In 25m rapid fire, Army shooter Neeraj Kumar upset Paris Olympics duo of Anish Bhanwala and Vijayveer Sidhu to win the final (34 hits). Anish, who came fist in qualification (590 pts) finished second in final. Anish had won the first trial (T1) on Sunday.