Shooting Selection Trials: Sift Kaur Samra wins women's 50m Rifle 3P, Anish Bhanwala tops 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event

The trio impressed at the Shooting Selection Trials T3 held at the Trishul Shooting Range in Dehradun.

Olympians Anish Bhanwala and Sift Kaur Samra, alongside Junior World Championship medalist Umamahesh Maddineni, secured top honours in their respective events at the T3 National Selection Trials for Group ‘A’ athletes, held at the Trishul Shooting Range, Maharana Pratap Sports College, Dehradun.

In the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men finals, Anish Bhanwala displayed excellent form, shooting 33 to finish four points ahead of fellow Haryana shooter Adarsh Singh (29). Navy marksman Pradeep Singh Shekhawat took third with 23 points.

Anish topped qualification with a combined score of 582-21x (Stage 1: 293, Stage 2: 289), while Pradeep (581-17x) and Gurmeet Singh (579-15x) rounded off the top three. Harsimar Singh Rattha, Neeraj Kumar, and Adarsh Singh also made it to the top six.

In the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women event, World Cup bronze medallist Sift Kaur Samra continued her fine form by claiming gold with a finals score of 467.3, finishing 10.4 points ahead of Aakriti Dahiya (456.9). Ashi Chouksey finished third with 443.9.

In qualification, Ashi led with 592, followed closely by Sift (591) and Aakriti (588). Other notable performers included Mehuli Ghosh, Ayushi Podder, Vidarsa K. Vinod, Vanshika Shah, and Nischal Singh.

The 10m Air Rifle Men finals witnessed a thrilling duel between Umamahesh Maddineni and Rudrankksh Patil before Umamahesh edged the Buenos Aires World Cup gold medalist by a margin of 0.7 points, scoring 252.2 against Rudrankksh’s 251.5. Divyansh Panwar finished third with 230.1.

In qualification, Shourya Saini and Divyansh both shot 632.9, with the former leading on inner 10s. Parth Rakesh Mane (632.5), Rudrankksh (631.9), Paarth Makhija (631.6), Umamahesh (630.9), Sandeep Singh (630.9), and Vishal Singh (630.7) also made it to the finals.

The selection trials will resume tomorrow with the 10m Air Rifle Men T4, 25m Pistol Women T3, 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women T4, and Stage 1 of 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men T4 events.

These trials are crucial in shaping India’s squad for the upcoming 16th Asian Shooting Championships 2025 in Kazakhstan and the ISSF World Cup in Ningbo, China.

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