Olympic selection trials for Indian shooters set to begin

Olympian Manu Bhaker and Esha Singh will be firm favourites to top the Olympic trials in 25m sports pistol when the process to select India's pistol and rifle squad for 2024 Paris gets underway at the Karni Singh Range here on Friday.

The opening day of the Olympic Selection Trials 1&2 (OST) will also see Anish Bhanwala and Vijayveer Sidhu establish their supremacy in the 25m rapid-fire event in the five-shooter field.

The Trial 1 finals in both women's sports pistol and men's rapid fire events will be held on April 20, while the Trial 2 finals will take place on April 22.

Trials will be held across eight pistol and rifle disciplines from April 19-27 here after which action will shift to Bhopal where Trial 3&4 are scheduled from May 10-19.

Shooters topping the trials will book their tickets to the Paris Olympics. The best three scores in the four trials will be considered for Paris team selection.

In 25m sports pistol, Manu and Esha will be challenged by the second Olympic quota winner Rhythm Sangwan, Abhidnya Ashok Patil and Simranpreet Kaur Brar.

In 25m rapid-fire pistol, Anish, who narrowly missed qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, would be eyeing a Paris berth after having secured a quota place for the country.

Anish and Vijayveer, the second quota winner in rapid fire, will be challenged by Adarsh Singh, Bhavesh Shekhawat and Ankur Goel in the four trials.

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) will add two bonus points to the scores of shooters who have won Olympic quota places for the country in 25m pistol and 50m rifle events, while one bonus point will be added to the scores of 10m air pistol and rifle shooters after the trials.

The top two shooters with the best scores among five contenders will make the Paris cut.

"The OSTs (Olympic Selection Trials) will follow the declared Paris Olympic schedule where the finals will happen the day after qualifications. Also, eliminations in the finals will proceed normally and the fifth shooter will be the first to exit at his or her regular stage of elimination," said an NRAI release.

The men's and women's 50m rifle 3-positions Trials 1&2 will be completed on April 24 and 26 respectively, while the 10m air rifle and air pistol men's and women's trials will take place on April 25 and 27 respectively.