India, Feb. 11 -- After a six-month hiatus, Manu Bhaker, the double bronze medalist from the Paris Olympics, has made an impressive return to competitive shooting. She excelled in the qualification round of the 25m sports pistol event during the first selection trials, securing the top position, and continued to lead in the second trials (T2) following the precision round at the Karni Singh Range on Tuesday.

In the precision round, Manu achieved an outstanding score of 297 out of 300. The rapid-fire round and the final are scheduled for Wednesday. During the first selection trials, she recorded a total of 587 points, placing her at the forefront of the competition. In the final held on Monday, despite a slow start, she managed to clinch the bronze medal, finishing behind Simranpreet Kaur, the winner, and Esha Singh, who also participated in her first event post-Paris Olympics.

Manu is set to compete in the trials for the 10m air pistol event, where she previously secured two bronze medals in Paris.

The teams for the upcoming ISSF World Cups in Argentina and Peru, taking place in April, will be determined based on the results from these two selection trials. The highlight of the year will be the ISSF World Championships scheduled for November.

Rudrankksh Patil, the 2022 World Champion in the 10m air rifle, and Sift Kaur Samra, the Asian Games champion in women's rifle three positions, have demonstrated exceptional form in these trials, each winning consecutive selection trials. Rudrankksh, who narrowly missed qualifying for Paris, placed second in the qualification round of the second trials with a score of 633.0, only losing out to Hriday Hazarika of Assam on countback. In the final, Rudrankksh topped the leaderboard with a score of 253.3, while Hazarika secured the silver medal.

Earlier, Rudrankksh had achieved first place in the qualification (T1) with a score of 633.3, surpassing Paris Olympian Arjun Babuta, whom he also defeated in the final with a strong performance of 254.9 points.

Sift, following her gold medal victory at the National Games, has maintained her impressive performance. She secured the top position in qualification (T2) with an outstanding score of 595 and triumphed in the final with a remarkable score of 469.8, surpassing her own world record established at the Asian Games by 0.2 points.

In the initial qualification round, Sift ranked seventh with a score of 589, while Odisha's Shriyanka Sadangi led with an impressive score of 594. However, in the finals, Sift outperformed the competition, finishing first with a score of 465.6. Haryana's Himani Poonia followed in second place, trailing by 2.3 points, and the experienced Anjum Moudgil secured third.

In the women's 10m air rifle event, Sonam Uttam Maskar claimed victory in the T1 final with a score of 253.3 after achieving the highest score in qualification at 633.9. In the 25m rapid fire event, Army shooter Neeraj Kumar caused an upset by defeating the Paris Olympics competitors Anish Bhanwala and Vijayveer Sidhu to win the final with 34 hits. Anish, who had topped the qualification round with a score of 590, finished in second place in the final after winning the first trial (T1) on Sunday.

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