Asian Games champion Palak wins first day of Air pistol trials

Reigning Asian Games champion Palak of Haryana won the women's 10m air pistol T3 trial here at the M.P. State Shooting Academy ranges on Thursday.

Palak overcame a challenge from Maharashtra's Shital Preetam Desai, who had earlier topped qualification with a score of 581. She shot 242 while Shital was second with 240.6. Statemate Suruchi came third.

Rajasthan shooter Amit Sharma, who had won the team silver at the ISSF Junior World Championships in Changwon, South Korea last year, emerged victorious in the men's air pistol T3 event.

Amit shot 242.6 in the finals to pip Army's Sharvan Kumar who was 0.4 behind in the second spot with 242.2. Olympian Gurpreet Singh, also from the Army, came third with 221.7.

Sharvan was the best shooter in qualifying, tied with Haryana's Aditya Malra at 586. Amit Sharma scored 584 and was placed third after the qualification.

Earlier in the air rifle trials, Ashi Chouksey bettered the world record in the 50m three-position qualification round. She shot 597 which was one point clear of the current world record held jointly by Norway’s Jenny Stene and USA’s Sagen Maddalena.

Meanwhile, Arjun Babuta came close twice to break the world record of Divyansh Singh in the 10m air rifle event but equaled it once and fell short of it once. However, he recorded back-to-back wins in the rifle trials.

In the women’s 25m air pistol T4, former Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat ranked first with a score of 33 in the finals, having scored 583 in the qualifications.