Olympian Manu Bhaker and Esha Singh will be firm favourites to top the Olympic trials in 25m sports pistol when the process to select India's pistol and rifle squad for 2024 Paris gets underway at the Karni Singh Range in New Delhi on Friday. (More Sports News)
The opening day of the Olympic Selection Trials 1&2 (OST) will also see Anish Bhanwala and Vijayveer Sidhu establish their s🐽upremacy in the 25m rapid-fire event in the five-shooter field.
The Trial 1 finals in both women's sports pistol and men's rapid-fire events will b♎e held on April 20, while the Trial 2 finals will take place on April 𝐆22.
Trials will be held across eight pistol and rifle disciplines from April 19-27 in New Delhi after which action will shift to Bhopal where Trials 3&am🌠p;4 are scheduled 🦂from May 10-19.
Shooters topping the trials will book their tickets to the Paris Olympics. The best three scores in the four trials will be considered for Paris team selection.
In the 25m sports pistol, Manu and Esha will be challenged by the second Olympic quota winner Rhythm Sangwan, Abhi𓆉dnya Ashok Patil and Simranpreet Kaur Brar.
In 25m rapid-fire pistol, Anish, who narrowly missed qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, would be eyeing aꦆ Paris berth after having secuꦜred a quota place for the country.
Anish and Vijayveer, the second quota winner in rapid fire, will be challenged by Adarsh Singh, Bhavesh Shekhawat a♉nd Ankur Goel in the four trials.
The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) will add two bonus points to the scores of shooters who have won Olympic quota places for the country in 25m pistol and 50m rifle events, while one bonus point will be added t🎃o the scores of 10m air pistol and rifle s♍hooters after the trials.
The top two shooters with the best𒐪 scores among th🦄e five contenders will make the Paris cut.
"The OSTs (Olympic Selection Trials) will follow the declared Paris Olympic schedule where the finalsꦫ will happen the day after qualifications. Also, eliminations in the finals will proceed norma💃lly and the fifth shooter will be the first to exit at his or her regular stage of elimination," said an NRAI release.
The men's and women's 50m rifle 3-positions Trials 1&2 will be completed on April 24 and 26 respectively, while the 10m air rifle and ai꧋r pistol men's and women's tr🎉ials will take place on April 25 and 27 respectively.
