Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The 37 selected Rifle and Pistol shooters are set to resume their quest for a spot in the Indian Shooting squad for the upcoming Paris Olympics, when they take aim in the Olympic Selection Trials (OST) 3&4 Rifle/Pistol, at the MP State Shooting Academy range in Bhopal.
Competitions began in earnest on Saturday with the men's 25m rapid-fire pistol (RFP) and women's 25m pistol T3 qualification rounds scheduled on the day. The finals of both competitions are slotted for Sunday, as per the Paris Olympic schedule of having the finals a day after the qualifications.
A total of 16 matches across the eight Olympic rifle and pistol individual events will be held over a nine-day detail, concluding with the men's and women's 10m air rifle T4 finals on Sunday, May 19.
The OST 1 and 2 were held earlier in Delhi's Dr Karni Singh Shooting range last month. The top two shooters in each event, basis the average of the best of three trials scores out of four, will be in pole positions to board the flight to Paris, come July.
None of the shooters have yet confirmed their positions among the five selected in each event and all the 37 will have to shoot at their best to ensure their Paris spots.
Only three shooters, Olympian Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan are in contention in multiple events, namely the women's sport pistol and the women's 10m air pistol.
Among the favourites in the men's RFP are Anish Bhanwala and Vijayveer Sidhu, who not only have the advantage of being quota winners but have also fared extremely well in the first two trials. In the women's sport pistol, Manu Bhaker and Esha Singh seem to be currently having the edge basis the first two trials.
Local interest
There is substantial local interest in the trials as Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar and Ashi Chouksey in the men's and women's 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) respectively, renew their fight for an Olympic spot. Ashi currently leads the pack of five and with bonus points on offer for being a deemed quota holder and the additional podium points she picked up in Delhi, looks favourite to make the cut.
Aishwarya Tomar, a Tokyo Olympian vying for his second successive Olympics, has some ground to cover on the other hand, despite returning the highest qualification score of 595 in the second of the Delhi trials.
 (1).jpg)