Rhythm, Kusale shine in selection trials

Competing in the 25m pistol trial (T2), Rhythm prevailed in a couple of shoot-offs against double Olympics bronze medallist Manu Bhaker who topped the qualification round (591) in a stacked field. Simranpreet Kaur Brar, among the most consistent in recent times in the event, was second with 588. Also making the final eight were four other Olympians Rahi Sarnobat (588), Esha Singh (586), Heena Sidhu (580) and Sangwan (578).

In the end, both Rhythm and Manu were tied with 37 hits after the 10-series of five shots each. After the first shoot-off ended in a 4-4 stalemate, Rhythm edged out in the second shoot-out 4-3.

In the 50m rifle 3Positions, Kusale qualified for the T1 final with a fine 592 out of 600, which gave him the third spot on the leaderboard. Navy’s Kiran Ankush Jadhav topped with 596, while Akhil Sheoran was second with 593.

In the final though, Kusale took the lead after the first five shots of the first Kneeling position, an advantage he held till the end. He ended with a score of 465.1, 2.6 clear of the experienced Sheoran who was second. Veteran Chain Singh finished third.

In the women’s 10m rifle final, Maharashtra’s Borse stamped her authority in the high-scoring final.

Newly crowned national champion Ananya Naidu set the marker with a scorching 53.1 after the first five shots and continued to lead the field till the 20th shot in the 24-shot final. Arya, however, stayed in the hunt, shooting no less than 10.4 between 11th to 21st shots. She jumped in lead with a perfect 10.9 on the 21st shot while Mehuli Ghosh crept up to beat Tokyo Olympian Elavenil Valarivan to the podium.

As both Borse and Naidu went into the final two shots on the same score (231.9), the former nailed a couple of 10.8s to finish with 253.5, 0.5 points ahead of Naidu.