National Selection Trials Shooting: India's Manu Bhaker won the women's 25m pistol title on the opening day

Ace Indian shooter Manu Bhaker clinched the women's 25 pistol title on the opening day of the National Selection Trials Rifle/Pistol (3&4) at the Madhya Pradesh State Shooting Academy Range in Bhopal on Thursday.

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Manu Bhaker clinched the title by defeating local favorite Chinki Yadav 31-29 in the National Selection Trials gold medal match. She had clinched a bronze medal in the women's 25m pistol event of the ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup 2023 at the same venue last month. Manu was the youngest Indian to win a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup.

Other winners of the National Selection Trials on the day included Arjun Babuta and Ashi Chouksey. In the men's 10m Air Rifle T3 event, Punjab's Babuta defeated Railway's Akhil Sheoran 16-6 in the gold medal match. Both have reached the shootout after finishing second in the ranking round. While in the women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions, Chouksey also defeated Odisha's Shriyanka Sadangi 16-10 for first place after topping qualification with 589 points. 

Meanwhile, Rhythm Sangwan has also won the bronze medal by defeating Neha in the National Selection Trials shoot-off. She had topped the qualifying stage with 583 ahead of Manu Bhaker (580), with Chinki Yadav qualifying sixth with 577. While in the junior section, Dhanush Srikanth won the men's 10m air rifle event. At the same time, Nikita Kundu won the women's 50m rifle 3 positions event.

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The ongoing National Selection Trials shooting is meant to help the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI). They help to select the Indian team for important events like the ISSF World Shooting Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, from May 27 to June 7 and the Asian Games 2023, scheduled from September 23 to October 8 in Hangzhou, China. Junior shooters are also striving to make it to the Junior World and Junior World Championship teams.