Begin typing your search above and press return to search.

Shooting

Rahi Sarnobat, Mehuli Ghosh, Niraj Kumar shine at National Shooting trials

Rahi Sarnobat finished six hits clear to take the top spot in women's 25m pistol.

National Selection Trials
X

Mehuli Ghosh (Photo credit NRAI)

By

The Bridge Desk

Updated: 28 Jun 2025 2:15 PM GMT

Olympian Rahi Sarnobat, Asian mixed team rifle gold medallist Mehuli Ghosh, and Navy marksman Niraj Kumar registered dominant victories in their respective events at the National Shooting Selection Trials 3 and 4 held on Saturday.

In the women’s 25m pistol T4 final, Rahi Sarnobat put up a flawless performance to secure first place with 40 hits. Her consistent shooting saw her finish a clear six points ahead of Maharashtra’s Abhidnya Ashok Patil, who scored 34.

Haryana’s Vibhuti Bhatia finished third with 27 hits, rounding off the podium.

Earlier, in the qualification round, Rahi and fellow Olympian Rhythm Sangwan had identical scores of 582, with Rhythm edging ahead due to a greater number of inner 10s (18 compared to Rahi’s 16).

The final line-up in the women’s 25m pistol event featured several experienced shooters, including Anjali Choudhary and Vibhuti Bhatia, who both shot identical scores of 579-17x in qualification, with Anjali securing the third spot due to a higher count of inner 10s.

Others who made it to the finals were Ishneet Aulakh (578-16x), Heena Sidhu (577-10x), Abhidnya Ashok Patil (576-21x), and Chinki Yadav (576-14x), all delivering competitive performances in the qualifiers.

In the women’s 10m air rifle T4 final, Mehuli Ghosh showcased her calibre by clinching the top position with a score of 253.6. Meghana M Sajjanar from Railways came a close second with 253.1, while Maharashtra’s Sonam Uttam Maskar held her ground in the eliminations and claimed third place with 231.4.

She narrowly edged out Olympian Ramita Jindal, who scored 210, by just 0.1 at the 20-shot elimination stage.

Ramita had led the qualification chart with a strong score of 633.5, followed closely by Mehuli (633.3), Meghana (631.9), and Sonam (631.6). Other finalists included Tilottama Sen, Kashika Pradhan, Narmada Nithin (T3 winner), and Rajshree Anilkumar, all scoring above 630 in what was a fiercely contested qualification round.

In the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) T3 final, Niraj Kumar of the Navy shot a superb 463.9 to take the top spot. He held steady throughout the 45-shot final and outperformed Army’s Babu Singh Panwar, who had topped the qualification round with an impressive 591-32x but managed a score of 457.3 in the final.

Two-time Olympian Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar finished third with a total of 447.0.

The qualification round for this event featured a tight battle at the top. Swapnil Kusale, a Paris Olympic bronze medallist, shot 590-42x, closely followed by Niraj (590-35x).

The remaining top contenders included Nikhil Tanwar, Surya Pratap Singh Banshtu, Rudrankksh Patil, and Pratham Bhadana, all demonstrating high-level shooting performances.

The trials, being conducted by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), are key in evaluating and shortlisting India’s top shooting talent for upcoming global events such as the ISSF World Cups.

The same group of athletes will be back in action on Sunday for the T4 qualification and final round in the men's 3P event. Also scheduled are the T3 rounds of the 10m air pistol events for both men and women, promising another competitive day of elite shooting.

Next Story