National champions delivered under pressure as India’s top shooters kicked off the National Shooting Trials with high-quality performances at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi on January 20.
Tilottama Sen and Niraj Kumar emerged victorious in the women’s and men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions (3P) T1 events respectively, while Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu claimed top honours in the men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol T1. With Paris Olympic qualification pathways already in focus, the opening day of trials underlined both consistency among established names and the growing depth of Indian shooting.
Tilottama Sen extends dominance in new ISSF format
Tilottama Sen continued her remarkable run in the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions, adapting seamlessly to the new ISSF finals format. Fresh from winning 11 medals at the 68th National Shooting Championship, the Karnataka shooter once again displayed composure and precision when it mattered most. She finished with a final score of 360.1, edging out Ashi Chouskey by a slender margin of 0.6 points in a tightly contested final.
Ashi Chouskey, who had been Tilottama’s closest challenger throughout the competition, finished second with 359.5, while Manini Kaushik of Rajasthan claimed third place with a score of 347.5. The narrow gap at the top highlighted the increasing competitiveness in the women’s 3P discipline, especially under the revised elimination-heavy finals format that places a premium on mental strength.
Both Tilottama and Ashi had dominated qualification, finishing first and second with scores of 594 and 592 respectively. The finals lineup was completed by a strong cast of experienced names, including Surabhi Bharadwaj Rapole of Railways, Vidarsa K. Vinod of Kerala, Ayushi Podder of Railways, Anjum Moudgil of Punjab and Mansi Kathait of Railways. Despite the presence of Olympic and world-level experience in the field, Tilottama’s ability to maintain rhythm across kneeling, prone and standing positions once again set her apart.
Niraj Kumar shines in men’s 50m 3P
In the men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions T1 final, Navy shooter Niraj Kumar delivered a composed and consistent performance to take top honours with a score of 360.5. His margin of victory, 3.6 points ahead of Adriyan Karmakar of West Bengal, reflected his control through the later stages of the final, where others struggled to sustain accuracy under pressure.
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Adriyan Karmakar finished second with 356.9, while reigning national champion Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar settled for third with 346.7. Although Aishwary had topped the qualification round with an impressive 595, the final once again demonstrated how qualification dominance does not always translate into podium finishes under the new format.
The men’s finals lineup featured a formidable field, with Ganga Singh of the Army qualifying second with 593, followed by Swapnil Kusale of Railways and Rudrankksh B. Patil of Maharashtra, both at 592. Chain Singh of the Army and Kiran Ankush Jadhav of the Navy completed the eight-man final. Niraj’s calm shot selection and steady execution across all three positions ensured he stayed ahead as the eliminations progressed.
Rajkanwar Sandhu tops Rapid Fire Pistol
The men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol T1 final, also conducted under the new ISSF format with eight finalists instead of the traditional six, provided its own share of drama. Punjab’s Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu emerged on top, shooting a final score of 29 to secure first place. At just 23 years of age, Rajkanwar’s performance underlined his growing stature in one of shooting’s most demanding events.
Vijayveer Sidhu finished second with 27, while Mandeep Singh of Haryana took third place with a score of 20. Mandeep had to survive a shoot-off against national champion Suraj Sharma, who finished just behind with 18. The rest of the finalists included Udayveer Sidhu, Neeraj Kumar, Omkar Singh and Ankur Goel, all of whom found the pace and pressure of the final unforgiving.
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Away from the headline events, the day also saw competitive action in the 50m Rifle Prone T2 competitions. In the men’s event, Swapnil Suresh Kusale of Railways topped the field with 628.5, narrowly ahead of Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar at 628.3, while Nikhil Tanwar of the Navy finished third with 625.4. In the women’s prone T2, Anjum Moudgil of Punjab claimed first place with 625.1, followed by Nupur Kumrawat of Madhya Pradesh and Ashi Chouskey in third.
With the finals of the 50m Rifle 3 Positions T2 for both men and women scheduled for tomorrow, alongside the T1 finals of the women’s 25m Pistol, the opening day has set a strong competitive tone. As India’s shooters continue their march through the selection trials, performances like those of Tilottama Sen, Niraj Kumar and Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu reinforce the depth and resilience of a system gearing itself firmly towards the next Olympic cycle.
