Suruchi Inder Singh, Niraj Kumar & Samrat Rana shine at national selection trials

Suruchi Inder Singh pipped Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker to win the women's 10m pistol event at the national selection trials for Group 'A' athletes, while Navy marksman Niraj Kumar completed a double in the 50m rifle 3 positions men's competition here on Sunday.

In a star-studded final, Suruchi finished with a score of 245.6, 1.1 better than Bhaker who shot 244.5 to finish in second place, while the seasoned Rahi Sarnobat ended third with a score of 223.1. Suruchi was also way ahead of the field in the qualification round, finishing with a score of 585, four better than Esha Singh who shot 581. Rahi (580), Manu (578-20x), Priya (578-17x), Pranjali (576), Sakshi (574-18x) and Simranpreet (574-15x) completed the top eight.

In the first final of the day, Samrat Rana leaped to first place with a 10.5 in the final shot ahead of Saurabh, who could only manage a 9.6 in the men's 10m air pistol event. Eventually, Samrat ended with a score of 241.7 while Saurabh took second place with a total of 241.5. Aditya Malra finished in third with 217.8.

Niraj Kumar produced a clinical performance in the men's 50m rifle 3P final to win back-to-back trials. The Navy man shot 463, two better than Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar who took home another medal. World Championship medallist Akhil Sheoran finished third with a score of 448.8 while Paris Olympics bronze medallist Swapnil Suresh Kusale ended fourth with 438.4.

Aishwary had finished on top of qualification with a brilliant score of 595-35x, while Niraj shot 592-32x. Nikhil Tanwar was third with a score of 591-34x and Swapnil followed with a 590-34x ahead of Akhil who shot 589-32x. Goldi Gurjar (588-31x), Babu Singh (588-30x) and Hemant (587-29x) completed the top eight places. The trials will conclude on Monday with the 10m pistol shooters returning for T4 qualification which will be followed by the finals.