Manu Bhaker in action© X (Twitter)
Olympian Manu Bhaker and Paris quota winner Vijayveer Sidhu won the fourth and final Olympic Selection Trial (OST) in 25m pistol events in Bhopal on Tuesday. At the M P State Shooting Academy, Manu, coached by the legendary pistol shooter Jaspal Rana, shot a world record-equalling 42 in the women’s 25m Pistol OST T4 final, while Vijayveer shot 34 in the decider of the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol OST T4 to emerge triumphant. Manu displayed complete dominance in the trials, winning two and coming second in the other two.
She was also the only shooter among the selected five to not score below 580 in the qualification round even once.
Abhidnya Patil (35) was second, while Simranpreet Kaur Brar (30) took home the final podium point. Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan were fourth and fifth respectively.
In men’s rapid fire, Vijayveer took the lead after the second five-shot series and held on to it till the eighth and final series to register his first outright victory in the trials.
Anish Bhanwala was second with 30 while Adarsh Singh was third with 25. Ankur Goel (20) and Bhavesh Shekhwat (18) took the minor places.
Anish, however, was the most successful of the five in the event, having won two trials and coming second in the other two.
Bhavesh had won the second trial. Vijayveer, on the other hand, had come second twice in the three earlier trials.
Wednesday will see the qualification rounds in men’s and women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event with local hopes Aishwary Tomar and Ashi Chouksey set to participate.
Topics mentioned in this article
