Tilottama Sen extended her strong start to the season by clinching back-to-back top finishes in the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event at the National Selection Trials for Group A shooters, underway at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range here. In other events on the day, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar claimed the men’s 50m Rifle 3P T2 title, while twin Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker dominated the 25m Pistol women’s T1 final.
Tilottama followed up her T1 victory with another assured performance in the T2 final, finishing with 361.5 after 35 shots. She won by a comfortable margin of 3.1 points over Railways shooter Ayushi Podder, who scored 358.4. Surabhi Bharadwaj Rapole completed the podium with 348.3. Manini Kaushik placed fourth with 336.3, followed by Ashi Chouksey (326.4), Nupur Kumrawat (315.6), Anjum Moudgil (305.0) and Vidarsa K. Vinod (302.8).
In the men’s 50m Rifle 3P T2 final, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar registered a convincing win with a score of 359.7. Paris Olympic bronze medallist Swapnil Kusale finished second on 357.7, while former 10m air rifle world champion Rudraankksh Patil secured third place with 347.5. T1 winner Niraj Kumar ended fourth with 336.3, ahead of Akshil Sheoran (326.5), Adriyan Karmakar (314.6), Nishan Budha (303.2) and Chain Singh (302.0).
Manu tops 25m Pistol event
Manu Bhaker topped the 25m Pistol women’s T1 event with a composed display in the final, scoring 37 to finish six points clear of Vibhuti Bhatia of Haryana, who settled for second with 31. Divya T.S of Karnataka claimed third place with 28.
Tejaswani Singh finished fourth with 26 after being eliminated in a shoot-off with Vibhuti. Rahi Sarnobat (22), Chinki Yadav (17) and Rhythm Sangwan (12) were the other finalists, while Esha Singh did not start the final despite qualifying among the top eight.
The trials will continue on Thursday with the 10m Air Rifle T1 finals for both men and women, along with the men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol T2 finals.