SHOOTING | Rhythm Sangwan beats Manu Bhaker in shoot-off in sports pistol

Manu Bhaker, Rhythm Sangwan, and Simranpreet Kaur Brar, the toppers in sports pistol in the National shooting trials in Delhi on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

World record holder Rhythm Sangwan beat double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker 4-3 in the shoot-off after the two were tied on 37 in the 25-metre sports pistol in the National shooting trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range on Wednesday.

Except for the satisfaction of beating Manu, the effort did not fetch much benefit for Rhythm as she had shot a below par 578 in qualification, as compared to 591 by Manu.

With the second trials in the event having finished, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) was prompt in putting out the average moving scores that placed Manu, Simranrpeet Kaur Brar and Esha Singh as the top three, followed by multiple World Cup gold medallist Rahi Sarnobat, T.S. Divya and Rhythm.

The eventual rankings apart, the final line up had the cream, with Abhinya Patil, Esha (588), Rahi (588), Heena and Chinki placing fourth to eighth.

In the men’s 50-metre rifle 3-position event, Olympic medallist Swapnil Kusale beat World Cup gold medallist Akhil Sheoran by 2.6 points, for the top spot, while Olympian Chain Singh placed third ahead of qualification topper KIran Jadhav (596).

In women’s air rifle, Arya Borse topped with 253.5, half a point ahead of national champion Ananya Naidu. World Championship silver medallist Mehuli Ghosh placed third after having topped qualification with 635.4.

Such an effort could not help Mehuli’s cause immediately, as the moving averages project Arya, Narmada NIthin and Sonam Maskar as the top three, followed by Eleavenil Valarivan, Ananya and Meghana Sajjanar.

Similarly, in men’s air rifle, World champion Rudrankksh Patil, Arjun Babuta and Hriday Hazarika were the top-3 in the averages, ahead of Sandeep Singh, Kiran Jadhav and Smit Moradiya.

In rapid fire pistol, Olympians Anish Bhanwala and Vijayveer Sidhu were far ahead of the rest in the averages, and were followed by Gurpreet Singh.

The results: 10m air rifle: Women: 1. Arya Borse 253.5 (632.8); 2. Ananya Naidu 253.0 (633.5); 3. Mehuli Ghosh 230.6 (635.4).

25m sports pistol: Women: 1. Rhythm Sangwan 37(4) 578; 2. Manu Bhaker 37(3) 591; 3. Simranpreet Kaur Brar 32 (588).

50m rifle 3-position: Men: 1. Swapnil Kusale 465.1 (592); 2. Akhil Sheoran 462.5 (593); 3. Chain Singh 451.7 (589).