Ashi Chouksey beats world record score at India’s national shooting trials

Asian Games medallist Ashi Chouksey bettered the world record score in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions event during India’s national shooting trials 2024 at the MP State Shooting Academy ranges in Bhopal on Wednesday.

The rifle shooter topped the qualification round for the fourth trial with a score of 597 (42x) - one point clear of the current world record held jointly by Norway’s Jenny Stene and USA’s Sagen Maddalena.

Chouksey later aced the final with 461.8 points. Vidarsa Vinod, who hit 457.5, came second while Himani Poonia was third with 446.5. Chouksey had won a bronze medal in the same category at the Asian Games 2023 and a silver medal in the team event.

The national trials, conducted by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), were held for Group A, comprising the top-ranked rifle and pistol shooters from the country.

The top five Indian shooters as per the NRAI’s Qualification Ranking for the Olympic Games (QROG) list on February 29 will earn the right to take part in NRAI’s final selection trials for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Chouksey is currently ranked second in the in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions rankings behind Asian Games champion Sift Kaur Samra.

In the men’s 10m air rifle, Arjun Babuta won the fourth trial after shooting 252.5. Sri Karthik Sabari Raj finished second after shooting 252.2 while Rajasthan’s Yash Vardhan came in third with a score of 230.8.

On Tuesday, Babuta had topped the third trial in the same event whilst matching Olympian Divyansh Singh Panwar’s world record score, achieved at the 2024 ISSF World Cup Cairo earlier this year.

The fourth trial for the women’s 25m air pistol on Wednesday saw 2018 Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat rank first with a score of 33 in the final. Jaspreet Kaur was second with 30 hits while Annu Raj Singh was third with 27.