Makhija tops air rifle selection trials

Paarth Makhija beat the reigning World Junior champion Hriday Hazarika by 1.4 point to top the men’s air rifle event in the shooting National selection trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range.

The 19-year-old Hazarika, however, topped the junior section beating the Youth Olympics silver medallist Shahu Tushar Mane by 0.5 point.

Nisha Kanwar topped in the women’s air rifle event, beating Meghana Sajjanar by 0.3 point. Shreya Agarwal did very well to score 631.6 in the qualification stage.

Anish Bhanwala and Rhythm Sangwan topped in the men’s and women’s section of rapid fire pistol.

The trials scores, along with the scores of the last national championship, will form the basis of selection of the Indian team for the 14th Asian Air Gun championship to be staged in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, apart from the Junior World Championship to be held in Lima Peru, in September.

The shooters who competed in the Tokyo Olympics will also be eligible for selection. They have been exempted from the trials, and their scores in the last two World Cups in Delhi and Osijek, apart from the European Championship and the Olympics will be considered for selection.

The results: 10m air rifle: Men: 1. Paarth Makhija 253.6 (630.4); 2. Hriday Hazarika 252.2 (629.8); 3. Shahu Tushar Mane 231.2 (627.8). Juniors: 1. Hriday Hazarika 251.5 (629.8); 2. Shahu Tushar Mane 251.0 (627.8); 3. Paarth Makhija 229.1 (630.4). Youth: 1. Keval Prajapati 249.6 (624.2); 2. Rudrankksh Patil 249.5 (625.9); 3. Yash Vardhan 227.9 (625.0).

Women: 1. Nisha Kanwar 251.2 (627.7); 2. Meghana Sajjanar 250.9 (627.5); 3. Nupur Patil 229.2 (625.6). Juniors: 1. Atmika Gupta 250.7 (626.9); 2. Mehuli Ghosh 250.6 (624.6); 3. Manini Kaushik 229.6 (624.1). Youth: 1. Ramita 251.0 (624.4); 2. Khyati Chaudhary 248.1 (625.7); 3. Yana Rathore 227.8 (620.2).

25m rapid fire pistol: Men: 1. Anish Bhanwala 581; 2. Vijayveer Sidhu 579; 3. Adarsh Singh 579. Women: 1. Rhythm Sangwan 552; 2. Simranpreet Kaur Brar 546; 3. Tejaswani 542.