Indian shooters were really impressive at the Shooting Trials. The trials really stood out for the Tokyo hopefuls as they performed really well. Tokyo Olympics quota holder Divyansh Singh Pawar outshined everyone as he broke the world record in men’s 10m air rifle T4 event of the National Selection Trials here on Wednesday.
Divyansh was at third in the qualifiers with a score 629.7 but he gradually went into the groove and dominated the other young Indian shooters. His final shot sealed the deal for him in the final as he defeated another Tokyo quota holder Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar.
The duo were involved in an intense ding dong battle which saw both of them go up and down with each passing shot. The intensity increased from the 12th single shot and went into the 24th and final shot tied at 242.2. The last three shots were all tied until Divyansh broke the jinx with the final shot.
Divyansh who is currently the World No.1 held his nerve and came up with a classy 10.9 in the final shot to easily go past the world record. Aishwary who was hot on heels of Divyansh also came up with a great shot of 10.4 but ended second best and also fell short of the record by just a whisker of 0.2 points.
Besides Divyansh, Saurabh Chaudhary (men’s 10m Air Pistol T4), Chinky Yadav (women’s 25m Pistol T4) and Tejaswini Sawant (women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions T4) reigned supreme with victories in their respective events.
Saurabh was rampant with his effort in the men’s 10m Air Pistol by winning the T4 trial with a score of 243.1 in the finals. Haryana born Sarabjot Singh finished second as Ravinder Singh representing the Army who won the T3 trials, managed a third-place finish.
Saurabh who has been very consistent in recent times winning two of the four trails made it to the finals in all four events. He also came first in the Asian Online Shooting Championship last month.
Another Tokyo 2020 quota holder Chinky Yadav continued her great form by winning the women’s 25m Pistol T4 competition. She also won the T3 event which was held on Tuesday.
Alongside Saurabh, Chinky has also made it to all four finals and has backed it up with two wins. She was calm under pressure as she shot a 37 in the final to leave Tejaswini of Haryana behind on 33. Manu Bhaker who finished fifth made it to another final, topping qualification with a sublime 587.
Tejaswini Sawant emerged on the final day at the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions T4 event. She shot 456.7 in the finals to beat veteran shooter Lajja Gauswami, who could only come up with a 455.
