Anish Bhanwala tops rapid fire pistol trials in Dehradun

Olympian Anish Bhanwala topped the leaderboard in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Stage 1 at the national trials, edging past Vijayveer Sidhu and Mandeep Singh on the opening day in Dehradun

Hyderabad: The opening day of competitions at the National Selection Trials (Group ‘A’ Rifle/Pistol) saw Olympian Anish Bhanwala emerge on top of the leaderboard in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol (RFP) T3 Men’s Qualification Stage 1, at Dehradun’s Trishul Shooting Range in Raipur.

Anish delivered a solid and consistent performance, shooting series of 99, 97, and 97 to finish with a total of 293 at the end of round one of qualifications. His Paris Olympics teammate Vijayveer Sidhu (99, 99, 94) followed closely to take second spot with 292, while Anish’s state-mate from Haryana, Mandeep Singh, stood third with 290.

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Rounding off the top five were Pradeep Singh Shekhawat (Navy) with 290 and Uttarakhand’s Ankur Goel with 289.

The top six shooters after Stage 2 of qualification will advance to the final of the event.

The action continues tomorrow (Wednesday, June 25, 2025), with Stage 2 of the Men’s RFP T3 qualifications preceding the final. Also scheduled on Day 2 are two more finals — the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women and the 10m Air Rifle Men.

These trials will help shape the Indian shooting team for the 16th Asian Shooting Championships 2025 in Kazakhstan in August and the ISSF World Cup in Ningbo, China, in September.