Niraj Kumar aces men's 50m rifle 3 positions at selection trials

Indian Navy's Niraj Kumar won the men's 50m rifle 3 positions event ahead of Olympians Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Sanjeev Rajput at the national selection trials on Wednesday. Niraj got the better of Madhya Pradesh's Tomar 17-11 in the gold medal match. The seasoned Rajput settled for the bronze medal.

On competition day six at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range, Niraj was up against a strong field of 94 and made it through to the final stages with a 584 out of 600 in the qualifying, which was enough to give him the fourth place. Rajput topped the qualifiers with a 588, including a perfect 200/200 in the first kneeling position and a 199/200 in the prone position.

In the top eight stage, Niraj finished second with a score of 404.7, narrowly edging out Rajput, who managed 404.3. Aishwary topped the stage with a 407.9. In the junior men's 3P competition, Himachal's Surya Pratap Singh Banshtu won gold with a 16-12 victory over MP's Avinash Yadav.

Rudrankksh double

On Tuesday, Maharashtra's Rudrankksh Patil recorded a rare double, winning both the men's and junior men's 10m air rifle competition. Rudrankksh got the better of former state-mate and current Railwayman Shahu Mane 17-11 in the men's gold medal contest and defeated Rajasthan's Yash Vardhan 17-13 in the junior men's final.