Olympic Selection Trials 2024: Manu Bhaker prevails in inaugural Rifle/Pistol trials

Elavenil Valarivan also shone in the trials.

Olympian and a former Commonwealth Games, Youth Olympics and Universiade champion Manu Bhaker, emerged the most successful Shooting athlete of the first ever Olympic Selection Trials (OST) Rifle/Pistol, winning the women’s 10M Air Pistol OST T4 match on the concluding day of the trials at the M.P. State Shooting Academy (MPSSA) ranges. This was her fourth overall win of the trials across two events, the other being the women’s 25M Pistol.

Manu shot a score of 240.8 in the OST T4 air pistol final on Sunday, leaving reigning Asian Games champion Palak, a huge 4.4 points behind in second. Rhythm Sangwan took third spot.

There were three other finals on the day. Manu’s fellow Tokyo Olympian Elavenil Valarivan blazed the MPSSA ranges early on in the day, winning the women’s 10M Air Rifle OST T4 with an effort of 254.3, 0.3 above the current world record of 254.0 set by China’s Han Jiayu in Baku this month. Ramita (253.3) and Mehuli Ghosh (230.3) were second and third respectively.

Divyansh Singh Panwar then won the men’s air rifle OST T4 with a score of 253.3, just 0.4 below his own existing world record. Arjun Babuta (250.0) and Rudrankksh Patil (229.5) followed for the other podium points available.

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In the men’s 10M Air Pistol OST T4 final, Ravinder Singh emerged triumphant with a score of 242.2 in the final. He was followed by Varun Tomar (239.4) in second and Sarabjot Singh (218.9) in third.

That concluded all 32 trial matches, evenly spread across eight individual Rifle and Pistol Olympic events. The first two trials happened in New Delhi’s Dr. Karni Singh Shooting range, before the caravan moved to Bhopal.

The next assignment for India’s Rifle and Pistol shooters will be the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol, coming up from May 31-June 08, 2024, in Munich, Germany.

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