Khel Ratna Manu Bhaker returned to the shooting range on Monday, continuing her love affair with the third spot.
After becoming the first Indian shooter to become a double Olympic medalist at Paris 2024, she finished behind eventual champions Simranpreet Kaur Brar and Esha Singh. In the final, Simranpreet beat Esha Singh 36-35.
The Jhajjar-native topped the qualification event at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad on Monday with a score of 587.
World record holder Rhythm Sangwan, Arshdeep Kaur, Abhidnya Patil, Annu Raj Singh, and TS Divya were the others in the final event.
Earlier, on Sunday, former world champion Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil and Olympians Anish Bhanwala and Sift Kaur Samra, won the new year’s first trial (T1) matches in their respective rifle and pistol events for Group A shooters.
Rudrankksh was in-fact in scintillating form, shooting 254.9, 0.4 over the existing finals world record, in the men’s 10m Air Rifle final to win it.
Haryana’s Anish won the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol (RFP) T1 final with a score of 35 while Punjab’s Sift Kaur Samra was the third winner of the day, shooting 465.6 in the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions (3P) final to record a yet another win.
Rudrankksh brooked no opposition in the men’s air rifle on the day, first topping qualification with a superb 633.3, 0.9 ahead of Olympian Arjun Babuta, and then posted a wire-to-wire finals victory over the same competitor.
Arjun was way behind (2.3 points) for silver in the 24-shot showdown. Andhra’s Umamahesh Maddineni won bronze.
National Shooting Trials 2025 Results
10m air rifle:
Men: 1. Rudrankksh Patil 253.3 (633.0); 2. Hriday Hazarika 251.4 (633.0); 3. Smit Moradiya 229.1 (632.8).
25m sports pistol:
Women: 1. Simranpreet Kaur Brar 36 (585); 2. Esha Singh 35 (578); 3. Manu Bhaker 31 (587).
50m rifle 3-position:
Women: 1. Sift Kaur Samra 469.8 (595); 2. Shriyanka Sadangi 465.2 (592); 3. Surabhi Bharadwaj 454.2 (592).
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