New Delhi, Feb 14 Delhi’s Meenu Pathak, delivered the biggest surprise on the concluding day of the National Selection Trials 1&2 (Group A) for Rifle/Pistol, upstaging fancied names to clinch the women’s 10m air pistol T2 match with an effort of 243.1 in the final on Friday.
Army man Varun Tomar was the other winner on the day at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range (DKSSR), shooting 239.8 in the men’s air pistol T2 final, to win by a comfortable 1.9 over Paris Olympics bronze medallist Sarabjot Singh.
Two more notable events of the day saw Haryana’s latest shooting star Suruchi Phogat taste defeat for the first time since December last year and former world No.1 Saurabh Chaudhary, return a podium finish. Their efforts over the past three months have taken the former to number two in the Indian rankings while Saurabh has zoomed to the very top.
The women went first as Surbhi Rao topped the qualification round in the morning with a solid 585. In signs of what was to come, Suruchi qualified second with a 582, while double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker was third with 580. Also making the cut for the final were Olympians Rhythm Sangwan and Esha Singh with Meenu taking seventh spot with a non-too impressive 576.
The winner did not begin well as well, lying fifth after the first series of five single shots. After 10 shots, Manu took the lead with Meenu coming in at third. Suruchi, Sainyam, and Esha were also shooting well and remained in contention throughout.
Meenu took the lead for the first time after the 16th shot of the 24-shot final as Suruchi and Esha chased her. Esha wilted with an 8.5 in her 21st as she took third and going into the final couple of shots, Meenu was 0.3 ahead of Suruchi who had staged a great comeback after losing steam in the middle. A 9.2 for her 23rd however was enough for Meenu who closed with 10.2 and 10.7 to take the victory.
The men’s qualification also had a similar top score of 585, credited to another Haryanvi Aditya Malra. Saurabh shot 583 to qualify second, Sarabjot 582 for fourth while Varun snatched the eighth and final qualifying spot on more inner 10s with a 580.
Saurabh was the fastest off the blocks in the final and shot to the lead after the first five with Varun in third. As shooters began to bow out one by one after the 12th single shot, it was left to three of the best air pistol shooters in the country to fight it out at the business end.
Varun had pulled away from the pack during the mid-stages of the final and Sarabjot rallied late and rallied well, to fend off Saurabh for second.
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