India's Paris 2024 Olympics shooting trials: Palak Gulia, Manu Bhaker in action from April 19
The first two of the four trials for rifle and pistol shooters will be held in New Delhi till April 27. A total of 37 Olympic hopefuls will compete in eight events.
Selection trials for Indian rifle and pistol shooters looking to make the cut for the Paris 2024 Olympics get underway at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi from April 19.
The nine-day meet, concluding on April 27, will see 37 of the best Indian shooters compete in the first two of the four Olympic selection trials to be conducted by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).
Each of the eight individual Olympic shooting events - four in rifle and as many in pistol - will see five shooters, who were selected for the trials based on the national rankings on February 29 and met NRAI’s selection criteria, compete for top spots in the Olympic Selection Trials (OST).
Shooters will earn points from the selection trials and the best three scores after four trials are completed, will be considered. Additionally, shooters who have secured an Olympic quota will have one bonus point added to the combined scores of their trials.
The Final Average Score (FAS) will be calculated by adding the best three scores from the trials and bonus points. Shooters will be ranked according to their FAS scores after the trials are over and the available quotas will then be distributed accordingly to the top-ranked shooters.
India, so far, have secured all 16 possible Paris 2024 shooting quotas in rifle and pistol events. Shotgun shooters have managed four out of a maximum possible eight but will have one final opportunity to secure more quotas at the ISSF Final Shotgun Qualifiers, which start in Doha from Friday.
Palak Gulia, who obtained the Olympic quota for India at the ISSF Final Olympic Qualification Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil last week, will join Manu Bhaker, Rhythm Sangwan and Esha Singh in the women’s 10m air pistol line-up.
Manu Bhaker, Rhythm Sangwan and Esha Singh have also qualified for the women’s 25m pistol trials based on their rankings.
Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, India’s most successful shooter at the Asian Games 2023, will go head-to-head against Swapnil Kusale and Akhil Sheoran in the men’s 50m rifle 3 position. Asian Games medallists Sift Kaur Samra and Ashi Chouksey will take on Olympian Anjum Moudgil in the women’s 50m rifle 3P.
The first final at the trials will be in the women’s 25m pistol and men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol on April 20. The two trials in each event will be completed by April 27.
For the mixed team events at Paris 2024, the top-ranked male Indian shooter in respective events at the end of the trials will be paired up with the best-ranked female shooter in that category.
Indian shooters in Olympic Selection Trials
- Men’s 10m air pistol: Sarabjot Singh, Arjun Singh Cheema, Varun Tomar, Naveen, Ravinder Singh
- Women’s 10m air pistol: Surbhi Rao, Palak Gulia, Manu Bhaker, Rhythm Sangwan, Esha Singh, Simranpreet Kaur Brar
- Men’s 10m air rifle: Divyansh Singh Panwar, Arjun Babuta, Rudrankksh Patil, Sri Karthik Sabari Raj, Sandeep Singh
- Women’s 10M air rifle: Mehuli Ghosh, Ramita, Tilottama Sen, Elavenil Valarivan, Nancy Mandhotra
- Women’s 25m pistol: Abhidnya Patil, Esha Singh, Manu Bhaker, Rhythm Sangwan, Simranpreet Kaur Brar
- Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol: Anish Bhanwala, Bhavesh Shekhawat, Vijayveer Sidhu, Adarsh Singh, Ankur Goel
- Men’s 50m rifle 3 position: Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Swapnil Kusale, Akhil Sheoran, Chain Singh, Niraj Kumar
- Women’s 50m rifle 3 position: Sift Kaur Samra, Ashi Chouksey, Shriyanka Sadangi, Nishcal, Anjum Moudgil