National Shooting Trials: After sweeping 50m Rifle 3P trials, Tilottama claims 10m Air Rifle Women Trial 1

New Delhi, Jan 22 (IANS) After a dominant showing in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions events earlier this week, Tilottama Sen continued her remarkable run at the National Selection Trials 1&2 Group A, claiming the top spot in the 10m Air Rifle Women (ARW) Trial 1 at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range near New Delhi on Thursday. Shahu Tushar Mane of Railways took the top spot in the men’s event, while Vijayveer Sidhu claimed top in 25m Rapid Fire Pistol T2. 

Junior National Champion in ARW, Tilottama produced a remarkable turnaround under pressure to clinch the top spot in the Selection Trial 1 Final of the ARW event, demonstrating composure and control in a final. Sen entered the final as the eighth and last qualifier, having scraped through with a score of 630.8, but rose steadily to finish on top with 253.4.

Railways' shooter Sonam Uttam Maskar, who had qualified fifth with 631.2, mounted a strong challenge to Tilottama but settled for second place with 252.8 in the final. Madhya Pradesh’s Nupur Kumrawat with 230.5(631.2) claimed third place.

Top qualifier Shruti of Haryana, who led the qualification round with 633.2, ended the final in fifth place with 187.9. Maharashtra’s Isha Anil Taksale (631.1) finished fourth with 209.0, while R Narmada Nithin concluded sixth with 166.2 after qualifying with 631. Railways’ Mehuli Ghosh finished seventh with 145.3 (632.0), and Maharashtra’s Arya Rajesh Borse rounded out the finalists with 123.7 (632.9).

Shahu Tushar Mane claims gold in 10m Air Rifle Men (T1)

Railways’ Shahu Tushar Mane secured top spot in the 10m Air Rifle Men (ARM) T1 Final, finishing with 253.9. Mane, who had qualified fifth with 632.6, steadily built momentum to emerge on top in a closely contested final.

Haryana’s Arshdeep Singh took second place with 251.1, while third rank went to Maharashtra’s Parth Rakesh Mane, who added 230.5 in the final after qualifying fourth with 632.9. Haryana’s Samarvir Singh finished just outside the medals in fourth place with 209.2.

Olympian Arjun Babuta of Railways, who led the field in qualification with an impressive 635.1, was unable to replicate that performance in the final and concluded the competition in sixth place with

Maharashtra’s Gajanan Shahadev Khandagale, second in qualification with 633.3, finished fifth with 187.7. Rudrankksh B. Patil of Maharashtra (144.5) and Himachal Pradesh’s Surya Pratap Singh Banshtu (123.5) were placed seventh and eighth, respectively.

Vijayveer Sidhu clinches gold

Olympian Vijayveer Sidhu shot 31 hits in the T2 final to secure the top spot in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men. National champion Suraj Sharma, who dominated the qualification round with 588-22x, had to settle for second place after hitting 29 in the final.

Completing the podium was Punjab’s Udhayveer Sidhu, who accumulated 25 hits in the final to claim third place. Udhayveer had earlier qualified second with 585-20x, while his brother Vijayveer qualified in fifth place with 579-19x.

World Championship silver medallist Anish Bhanwala, who qualified third with 582-24x, finished fifth in the final with 15 hits, behind Navy’s Omkar Singh, who logged 18 hits. Uttarakhand’s Ankur Goel (9) and Army shooter Neeraj Kumar (5) completed the final line-up, while Pradeep Singh Shekhawat did not start the final after qualifying fourth with 581-19x.

National Selection Trials 1&2 will continue tomorrow (January 23, 2026) with the finals of 10m Air Rifle Women (T2), 10m Air Rifle Men (T2), and the T2 finals of the 25m Pistol Women event scheduled.

--IANS

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