New Delhi: The 25-year-old Arjun Babuta breached the existing finals world record (FWR) in men’s 10m air rifle to register a dominating victory in the ongoing Olympic Selection Trials (OST) 1 & 2 for Rifle and Pistol at the Karni Singh Range here on Thursday.
Arjun registered a sensational tally of 254.0 points in the OST T1 final to achieve the incredible milestone. He shot 0.3 above the mark set by fellow finalist and India teammate Divyansh Singh Panwar at the Cairo World Cup earlier this year.
According to a media statement issued by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) apart from Arjun, Nancy (women's 10M Air Rifle), Varun Tomar (men's 100M Air Pistol) and Rhythm Sangwan (women's 10M Air Pistol) have emerged triumphant in their respective OST T1 final matches.
The 25-year-old displayed his ability to stay stable and calm in crunch situations. He hit a couple of perfect 10.9 gems, besides 13 other shots which were 10.6 or above. His lowest score of 10.0 came only on the 21st shot, by which time he had already established a huge gap over the field, winning it by 2.8 in the end over 2022 world champ Rudrankksh Patil. Sri Karthik Sabari Raj was third.
Nancy missed an opportunity to secure a world record by 0.6 points. However, her tally of 253.4 was more than enough to ward off quota holder Mehuli Ghosh by 0.7. Olympian Elavenil Valarivan was third.
The men's 10M Air Pistol final saw Paris quota holder Varun Tomar secure yet another comfortable victory with a score of 244.1. Ravinder Singh finished the event in second place, while Varun's fellow Paris quota holder Sarabjot Singh (217.4) picked up the final podium points with a third-place finish.
Rhythm Sangwan, one of three in the women's field to have qualified for both the Air Pistol and Sport Pistol trials, made up somewhat for her disappointments in the Sport Pistol trials earlier, by taking the overall lead in the Air Pistol event after a comprehensive performance in its first trial match.
After topping qualifications on Wednesday with a score of 578, she led from start to finish in the final to also collect the highest podium points available. Her score of 243.5 was a huge 5.7 better than second finishing Manu Bhaker. Reigning Asian Games champ Palak finished third.
Olympians Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Anjum Moudgil topped the scoring charts respectively in the qualification round for the men's and women's 50M Rifle 3 Positions OST T2. Aishwary was particularly sensational as he posted a dizzying 595 to leave an eight-point gap between him and his nearest rival.
The indomitable Aishwary Tomar also won the second men’s 3P Olympic Selection Trial with a score of 463.6 in the final. Akhil Sheoran finished second while Swapnil Kusale came third. On the other hand, unstoppable Sift Kaur Samra won the second women’s 3P Olympic Selection Trials, making it two in two for her till now. Ashi Choksey and & Anjum Moudgil made second and third podium finishes.
Aishwary and Anjum topped the men’s & women’s 50M 3P OST T2 while Ashi fired a superb 595 while Anjum tallied 589 in her qualification round.
-50M Rifle 3 Positions Women OST T2:
1. Anjum Moudgil - 197,197,195 - 589
2. Sift Kaur Samra - 195,197,195 - 587
3. Shriyanka Sadangi - 194,198,195 - 587
4. Nischal Singh - 196,199,192 - 587
5. Ashi Chouksey - 194,198,193 - 585
-50M Rifle 3 Positions Men OST T2:
1. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar - 198,200,197 - 595
2. Swapnil Suresh Kusale - 195,200,192 - 587
3. Niraj Kumar - 196,196,195 - 587
4. Chain Singh - 199,196,190 - 585
5. Akhil Sheoran - 192,198,194 - 584
