New Delhi, April 27 (IANS): The first-ever Olympic Selection Trials (OST) 1&2 in Rifle/Pistol concluded at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting range here with the final day throwing up four new winners in the air events. Arjun Singh Cheema won the first final (men’s 10M Air Pistol OST T2) of the day, followed by Esha Singh (women’s 10M Air Pistol OST T2), Divyansh Singh Panwar (men’s 10M Air Rifle OST T2) and finally Elavenil Valarivan, who won the women’s 10M Air Rifle OST T2 final in a cliff-hanger.
None of the 37 shooters who have qualified for the OSTs are yet sure of their Paris Olympic tickets and the final two trials in Bhopal next month, are sure to be exciting, with all to play for.
Air Pistol OST T2 Finals
Arjun Singh Cheema won the men’s 10M Air Pistol OST T2 final with a score of 244.6. Ravinder continued his good showing in the trials, coming in second with 242.4, while Varun Tomar was third. Qualification topper Sarabjot Singh was fourth while Naveen was the lowest-ranked finalist. In the women’s Air Pistol, Esha Singh extended an excellent trial run overall, winning the OST T2 final in convincing fashion. She was a whole point ahead of second-finishing Rhythm Sangwan, after the first series of five-single shots.
She kept getting stronger as the match progressed to finish with a final tally of 244.9, 3.1 ahead of Rhythm. Palak came in third to pick up the final podium points as Surbhi Rao and Manu Bhaker were fourth and fifth respectively.
Air Rifle OST T2 Finals
The men’s 10M Air Rifle final was a gripping contest where fortunes initially swung wildly, and the lead changed with almost every shot at one stage. But Divyansh it was in the end who clinched it from Sri Karthik Sabari Raj with an effort of 251.9. T1 winner Arjun Babuta was third, while Sandeep Singh and Rudrankksh Patil took fourth and fifth respectively.
The most thrilling match of the day, however, was saved for the end, where five of India’s best women’s air rifle shooters went hammer and tongs against each other in the 24-shot match-up.
Things were so close that after the first two five-shot series, there was a difference of 0.4 between the fifth-ranked shooter and the leader. The trend continued and heading into the 18th shot, the first elimination stage of these finals, only 0.7 separated the leader from the fifth-ranked shooter.
Olympian Elavenil then used all her experience and some fantastic shots to pull through. Ramita warded off Tilottama Sen in a shoot-off to come in second, just 0.5 adrift of Ela’s winning score of 251.5.