Sift, Niraj win in Olympic selection trials

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh)[India], May 18 : Sift Kaur Samra won her third (out of four) women's 50M Rifle 3 Positions (3P) Olympic Selection Trial (OST) while Niraj Kumar, won the men's 3P OST for a second time, as proceedings in the event concluded on the penultimate day of the OSTs 3 and 4 Rifle/Pistol, here at the MP State Shooting Academy range in Bhopal on Saturday.

Sift shot 461.3 in the women's 3P OST T4 final to edge out Nischal by a point. Ashi Chouksey was third with 448.1. Shriyanka Sadangi and Anjum Moudgil were fourth and fifth respectively in the five-woman field.

In the men's 3P, Niraj Kumar finished on top with a healthy 462.9, a whole 1.7 ahead of second-finishing Chain Singh. Aishwary Tomar was third with 449.8 while Swapnil Kusale and Akhil Sheoran finished fourth and fifth respectively.

The results confirmed Sift as the top finisher in women's 3P, considering three best scores out of the four trials. Anjum Moudgil also confirmed her position as second best of the trials among the five qualified shooters. In the men's 3P Aishwary Tomar and Swapnil Kusale finished 1-2 after the competition of four trial matches, a release said.

The day also saw the qualification rounds of the men's and women's 10M air rifle and air pistol OST T4 play out.

While Sri Karthik Sabari Raj topped the men's air rifle with a score of 631.6, Ramita Jindal was the star of the day posting a scintillating 636.4 (0.1 more than the existing world record set by China's Han Jiayu at the Baku World Cup earlier this month) to top the the women's air rifle.

Ramita's effort meant that she was now second in the overall calculations, just 0.1 behind Olympian Elavenil Valarivan, whose score of 633.0 has taken her to the top of the standings. Ramita at the start of the day was in the fourth position. Mehuli Ghosh (633.1) was second and Nancy (630.6) and Tilottama Sen (628.8) were fourth and fifth respectively.

In the men's air rifle, the results had no bearing on the standings as Sandeep Singh (fourth with 628.3) and Arjun Babuta (fifth with 624.7) maintained their top two positions in the calculations.

Manu Bhaker confidently topped the women's 10M Air Pistol OST standings, finishing on top of the T4 qualification round with a score of 581. Surbhi Rao (577) was second while Palak (572) was third. Rhythm Sangwan was fourth on the same score as Palak's but lost out on inner 10s while Esha Singh was fifth with 572.

In the men's air pistol, Sarabjot Singh shot 584 to top the OST T4 qualifications, while Arjun Singh Cheema was second with 583. Varun Tomar (577) was third, Ravinder Singh (576) fourth and Naveen (574) finished fifth.

Those results in air pistol meant that in the present calculations, Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwan are 1-2 in the women's air pistol while Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Singh Cheema have the top two slots in the men's event.

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