Bhanwala, Sri Karthik and Nishchal among first winners at rifle and pistol national selection trials

New Delhi: Anish Bhanwala, Sri Karthik Sabari Raj and Nishchal were among the first winners at the National Selection Trials 5 and 6 for Group A rifle and pistol shooters, here at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting range on Sunday.

Bhanwala continued to impress in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol (RFP), while Sri Karthik from Tamil Nadu won the men’s 10m air rifle T5 competition, on the second day of the trials.

Nishchal triumphed in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions T5, ensuring Haryana had two of the three wins in the day’s senior competitions, given Bhanwala's win in the men’s RFP.

Bhanwala topped the qualifications of the men’s RFP which began on Saturday and ended on Sunday with an above average effort of 584 out of a possible 600.

However, in the final, Bhanwala shot 35 out of 40, with four perfect scores of five among the eight series of five rapid-fire shots each.

Rajasthan’s Bhavesh Shekhawat was at a distant second with 29 while Punjab’s Anhad Jawanda was third with 22-hits to his name.

In the women’s 3P, the qualifying scores were high with Bhopal World Cup bronze medallist Sift Kaur Samra from Punjab, topping with 592.

Haryana’s Nishchal took the eighth and final qualifying spot with a score of 585, but was the most consistent in the final, staying among the top two and mostly in the lead throughout.

She won eventually with a finals score of 457.7, just 0.4 ahead of Gujarat’s seasoned Lajja Gauswami, who is now in her 16th year of competing at the highest level. Odisha’s Shriyanka Sadangi was third with 446.7.

In the men’s 10m air rifle, Tamil Nadu's Sri Karthik pipped Assam’s Hriday Hazarika, who had mounted a brilliant late charge, by 0.2 points in the final. Sri Karthik finished with 253.2 while Punjab’s Arjun Babuta was third with 231.5.

Sri Karthik had also topped the qualification round with 633.5 as all eight qualifiers shot above the 630-mark. Hriday was fifth in qualification.