Shooting
37 shooters line up for Rifle and Pistol Olympic Selection Trials
All the eyes will be on Manu Bhaker and Esha Singh as the first phase of Shooting Olympic Selection Trials in Delhi.
Manu Bhaker is one of three shooters in India's 21-member squad who will appearing at their second Asian Games later this year.
The 25M Pistol shooters will fire first as the inaugural Olympic Selection Trials (OSTs) 1&2 for Rifle and Pistol is all set to get underway at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting range. The qualification rounds for both the women’s 25M Pistol and the men’s 25M rapid-fire pistol (RFP) take up the entire day beginning at 9.00 am with the women’s Precision Stage.
Five shooters each have made the cut in each event, as they have in all the eight events. In the women’s sport pistol (25M) Manu Bhaker will take the favourites tag being the only Olympian in the field as well as having the advantage of having one of the two quotas in the event, which will give her a bump of two points in the final average score.
She will be challenged by the second quota winner Rhythm Sangwan, Esha Singh, Abhidnya Ashok Patil, and Simranpreet Kaur Brar for the top spots in both the OSTs.
In the men’s RFP, Anish Bhanwala will be the one to beat given he has established himself as the undisputed number one in the discipline over this Olympic cycle. He also has the quota place as has his good friend Vijayveer Sidhu. Adarsh Singh, Bhavesh Shekhawat, and Ankur Goel will challenge both those for one of the two Paris spots.
As the select 37 get ready for OSTs 1&2 here is a guide on how to score your favourite marksmen and women as they shoot-off for a ticket to Paris 2024.
The OSTs will follow the declared Paris Olympic schedule where the finals will happen the day after qualifications. Also, eliminations in the finals will proceed normally and the fifth shooter will be the first to exit at his or her regular stage of elimination.
