Tokyo-bound Divyansh Singh Panwar impresses at National Shooting Trials

World No.1 Divyansh Singh Panwar stamped his authority on the men's 10m air rifle event at the National shooting T2 trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, New Delhi, on Sunday. He shot 250.9 to bag the top spot.

His impressive run in the 24-shots final round saw him finish above Maharashtra’s Rudranksh Balasaheb Patil, who shot 249.7. Assam's Hriday Hazarika, who had won the first round of trials (T1), had to settle for third place.

The Jaipur-born shooter had qualified for the final round at the eighth spot with 628.7 points, 0.1 point ahead of Srinjoy Datta.

Kavi Rakshna, another young prospect, won the women's event ahead of established shooters like current World No.1 Elavenil Valarivan and Tokyo 2020 quota holders Anjum Moudgil and Apurvi Chandela.

Who is Divyansh Singh Panwar?

Divyansh Singh Panwar, 18, is one of the India's medal hopefuls in shooting at the Tokyo Olympics.

The teenager had qualified for the Tokyo 2020 after bagging a silver medal at the Beijing World Cup in 2019. He also proved his mettle in the mixed team events as he clinched two World Cup medals with Anjum Moudgil.

Panwar took to shooting at the age of 12 and began training with his elder sister's weapon at the Jangpura shooting range in Jaipur. Given his talent, his father enrolled him at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi.

Panwar trained under Deepak Kumar in New Delhi and soon started tasting success at the international level.

At the 2018 ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany, Panwar won two medals. His impressive run continued at the 2018 ISSF World Shooting Championships in Changwon, South Korea as he bagged a bronze with Shreya Agarwal at the 10m air rifle junior mixed team event.

Due to his consistent performances, Panwar was promoted from the developmental group to core group of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) in May 2019.