At the T4 national selection trials for Rifle and Pistol shooters held at the Trishul Shooting Range in Dehradun on January 31, Paris Olympic bronze medallist Sarabjot Singh, Army shooter Lakshita, former world championship medallist Akhil Sheoran, and Maharashtra's Sakshi Sunil Padekar won their respective events on the penultimate day.
In the men’s 10m air pistol final, Sarabjot secured first place with a score of 245.9. Army marksman Ajendra Singh Chauhan closely finished second with 245.1, and World champion Samrat Rana took third with 221.5. Haryana’s Kamaljeet Choudhary was fourth with 201.8, while qualification leader Saurabh Chaudhary ended fifth on 179.7. Punjab’s Udhayveer Sidhu placed sixth with 157.4, Rajasthan’s Omprakash Mitharval was seventh with 136.0, and Army shooter Parmod finished eighth with 116.3.
Earlier in qualification, Saurabh led with 583-21x, followed by Kamaljeet with 583-20x. Samrat Rana and Sarabjot qualified third and fourth with 582-27x and 582-21x, respectively.
The women’s 10m air pistol final had a narrow margin as Army shooter Lakshita, who qualified in eighth place with 573-19x, edged Haryana’s Surbhi Rao by 0.2 points, finishing with 240.0 against Surbhi’s 239.8. Uttar Pradesh’s Mansi Anand took third spot with 220.2. ISSF World Cup Final 2025 silver medallist Sainyam finished fourth with 197.6. Haryana shooters Muskan Bhanwala and Manu Bhaker placed fifth and sixth with 177.0 and 157.1, respectively. ISSF Munich World Cup gold medallists Suruchi and Palak did not start the final despite qualifying.
During qualification, Manu Bhaker led with 579-20x, followed by Muskan with 577-14x and Sainyam with 576-18x. Surbhi Rao and Mansi Anand qualified fifth and sixth with 575-23x and 575-18x.
In the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final, Akhil Sheoran of Uttar Pradesh narrowly claimed victory, finishing with 358.3 points against Navy’s Niraj Kumar at 358.1. World Championship medallist Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar secured third place with 345.4. Olympian Chain Singh placed fourth with 333.7, followed by Nikhil Tanwar (319.0), Goldi Gurjar (309.1), Sidharth Gaur (299.1), and Adriyan Karmakar (292.5).
Aishwary had topped qualification with 591-35x, ahead of Adriyan Karmakar’s 590-28x and Niraj Kumar’s 589-41x. Akhil Sheoran qualified fifth with 587-30x.
In the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions final, Maharashtra’s Sakshi Sunil Padekar defeated Karnataka’s Tilottama Sen with scores of 358.2 and 357.8, respectively. Madhya Pradesh’s Ashi Chouksey claimed third with 345.5. Kerala’s Vidarsa K. Vinod finished fourth with 334.4, while Olympians Anjum Moudgil and Sift Kaur Samra were fifth and sixth with 322.9 and 312.3. Army shooter Priya took seventh place with 302.7 after a shoot-off with Sift, and Haryana’s Nischal Singh was eighth with 300.7.
Vidarsa led qualification with 590-33x, just ahead of Sift Kaur Samra with 590-31x. Sakshi had qualified third with 589-36x before winning the final.
In the updated national rankings, Kedarling Balakrishna Uchaganve leads the men’s 10m air pistol standings, followed by Gaurav Kumar and Kamaljeet Choudhary. Suruchi remains number one in the women’s event, ahead of Sainyam and Esha Singh. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar maintains the top position in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions rankings, with Niraj Kumar and Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil following. Ashi Chouksey leads the women’s standings ahead of Vidarsa K. Vinod and Tilottama Sen.
The T4 Rifle and Pistol trials will conclude on Wednesday with the 50m Rifle Prone events for men and women. Following this, the Indian rifle and pistol squads for upcoming international competitions, including the Asian Games and ISSF World Cup Hangzhou, are expected to be finalised.