NEW DELHI: Tokyo Olympics quota holder Divyansh Singh Pawar smashed the world record with a score of 253.1 to win the men’s 10m air rifle T4 event of the National Selection Trials on Wednesday.
After qualifying third with a score of 629.7, Divyansh outgunned a field full of young Indian talent to win the final on the last shot, from yet another Tokyo quota holder Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar.
The two were involved in a see-saw battle for supremacy from the 12th single shot and went into the 24th and final shot tied at 242.2. They were also tied at the end of the 23rd shot at 232.
But current world number one Divyansh then showed his quality with a classy 10.9 in the final shot to easily go past the world record. Aishwary hit an equally commendable 10.4 but fell short of the record mark of 252.8, by just 0.2 points.
Besides Divyansh, Saurabh Chaudhary (men’s 10m Air Pistol T4), Chinky Yadav (women’s 25m Pistol T4) and Tejaswini Sawant (women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions T4) also emerged winners in their respective events.
Saurabh continued his dominance in the men’s 10m Air Pistol by winning the T4 trial with a score of 243.1 in the finals. Sarabjot Singh of Haryana was second and Ravinder Singh of the Army, the winner of the T3 trials yesterday, came third.
Saurabh has now won two of the four trials conducted this year and made it to all the finals, besides coming out top at the first Asian Online Shooting Championship held last month.
Another Tokyo 2020 quota holder Chinky Yadav won the women’s 25m Pistol T4 competition, backing up the T3 victory in the same event she bagged on Tuesday.
Chinky also has made it to all the four trial finals this year and now has won two of them. She shot 37 in the final to leave Tejaswini of Haryana behind on 33. Manu Bhaker also made it to another final, topping qualification with a solid 587. She, however, finished fifth.
The final winner of the day was Tejaswini Sawant in the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions T4 event. She shot 456.7 in the finals to beat seasoned shooter Lajja Gauswami, who shot 455.