Olympic Selection Trials (OST) 3&4 take place in Bhopal on Saturday, and a total of 37 pistol and rifle shooters will resume their quest for a spot in the Indian squad for the Olympic Games in Paris. The shooters from India have achieved the maximum of 16 Paris quota spots in both pistol and rifle events. To choose the Olympic team, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) is holding trials among the top five finishers in each event in the nation. Olympic quotas in shooting sports are earned by the nation, and those who earn a spot are not guaranteed a trip to Paris unless they excel in the selection processes.
The top two shooters in each event, based on the average of the best three trial scores out of four, will board the flight to Paris.
The first set of two trials was held at the Karni Singh Ranges in New Delhi last month and the MP State Shooting Academy here will decide the Olympic fate of top contenders over the next few days.
The first day of the trials will see the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol and women’s 25m pistol T3 qualification rounds. The finals of both those competitions are slotted for Sunday.
A total of 16 matches across the eight Olympic rifle and pistol individual events will be held over nine days, concluding with the men’s and women’s 10m air rifle T4 finals on May 19.
Three women shooters, Olympian Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan are in contention in multiple events, namely 25m sport pistol and the 10m air pistol.
Among the favourites in the men’s rapid-fire pistol event are Anish Bhanwala and Vijayveer Sidhu, who have the advantage of being quota winners and have also fared well in the first two trials.
In the 25m sport pistol, Manu and Esha seem to be having the edge after the first two trials.
Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Ashi Chouksey in the men’s and women’s 50m rifle 3 positions respectively, renew their fight for Olympic spots.
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