Anish and Narmada shine at National Selection Trials

Anish Bhanwala and Narmada Nithin secured top positions in their respective shooting events at the National Selection Trials in Raipur, showcasing consistency and precision in a fiercely competitive field

Hyderabad: Former world champion and Olympian Anish Bhanwala won back-to-back trials in the 25m rapid fire pistol (men) event, while Tamil Nadu’s Narmada Nithin clinched the top spot in the 10m air rifle (women) on the fourth day of the National Selection Trials 3 & 4 for Group ‘A’ rifle and pistol shooters, currently underway at the Trishul Shooting Range, Maharana Pratap Sports College, here in Raipur on Friday.

Narmada shot a composed 253.7 in the 24-shot final to edge out ISSF World Cup Final silver medallist Sonam Uttam Maskar by 1.7 points. Delhi’s Rajshree Anilkumar secured third place with a score of 230 after 22 shots.

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Earlier, in a star-studded women’s air rifle field, Narmada finished sixth with a score of 629.5 in qualification. World Championship medallist Mehuli Ghosh topped the qualification round with 632.2, just 0.1 ahead of Sonam, while Rajshree was a close third at 631.9 after six series of 10 shots each. Shreya Agrawal (630.5), 50m 3P T4 winner Vidarsha K Vinod (630.3), Ayonika Paul (629.4), and Dnyaneshwari Jayveer Patil (629.3) completed the T3 final line-up.

In the men’s 25m RFP T4 final, Anish maintained his top form to register a score of 30 and claim his second consecutive final win of the trials. Navy’s Pradeep Singh Shekhawat pushed him all the way but had to settle for silver with 29, while Anish’s teammate from Haryana, Adarsh Singh, took third place with 23 shots.

Anish had also topped the T4 qualification round with 584-20x, again bagging a double in the qualifications. Adarsh followed with 581-14x, finishing ahead of fellow Haryanvi shooter Mandeep Singh (579-16x). Bhavesh Shekhawat (577-10x), Udhayveer Sidhu (576-15x), and Pradeep Singh Shekhawat (574-22x) all contributed to a tightly contested field.

The trials continue on Saturday with three finals.