Manu Bhaker topped the women’s 25m pistol event in India’s national shooting trials held at Karni Singh Shooting Range in Delhi’s Tughlakabad this week. The trials were held from 8 January and concluded on 14 January.
The seven-day trials were split into two groups (Groups A and B). Indian shooters at the top of their game were in Group A, while shooters who qualified for open selection trials were in Group B. The national squad will only be chosen from Group A shooters for the international and continental competitions given Olympic quotas in 2023. Manu Bhaker, who was assigned to Group A, won the first trial qualifying with a total score of 581 points and a final score of 27.
Chinki Yadav of Madhya Pradesh finished second with a final score of 21, while Esha Singh of Telangana took third place. Bhaker, who won a gold medal at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, was equally consistent in the second trial and topped qualification with 590 points followed by a final score of 27. Abhidnya Ashok Patil came a close second with 26 points this time while Niveditha Nair finished third. World champion Rudrankksh Patil, who secured a Paris 2024 Olympic quota for India in November, won the second Group A trial in the 10m air rifle, defeating Chain Singh 17-13 in the gold medal round. Patil had finished fourth in the qualification round while Chain was sixth.