Olympian Manu Bhaker was in exceptional form in the women’s 25m sports pistol final, shooting 47 out of a maximum possible 50 in the first Olympic selection trial at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Saturday. She had seven perfect rounds of 5, and three 4s.
Her effort was six points better than the world record held by Yang Jin of Korea. However, the 22-year-old Manu, who shot 582 in qualification, will see 0.60 point added to her score for winning the final, as per the selection procedure.
World record holder in the event, Rhythm Sangwan did her confidence some good by finishing second, ahead of Abhidnya Patil, Simranpreet Kaur Brar and qualification topper Esha Singh (585).
The 20-year-old Rhythm had shot 574 in qualification on Friday.
With Esha and Simranpreet (583) shooting big, not to forget Manu, Rhythm would have a lot to catch up. However, with four selection trials scheduled, all the shooters have the chance to leave out their lowest score.
In the current policy, there is no bonus point for world record or world rank.
Interestingly, Manu, Rhythm and Esha are in the race for Olympic berths not only in sports pistol but in air pistol as well.
In men’s 25m rapid fire pistol, Anish Bhanwala emerged the best as he beat fellow Olympic quota winner, Vijayveer Sidhu, 33-27. Adarsh Singh was third, ahead of qualification topper Bhavesh Shekhawat (580) and Ankur Goel.
The same set of events will continue over the next two days for the second set of trials. The third and fourth trials will be held in Bhopal in May.
The results:
25m rapid fire pistol: Men: 1. Anish Bhanwala 33 (578); 2. Vijayveer Sidhu 27 (579); 3. Adarsh Singh 23 (572).
25m sports pistol: Women: 1. Manu Bhaker 47 (582); 2. Rhythm Sangwan 39 (574); 3. Abhidnya Patil 32 (577).
