37-strong field line-up for first ever Rifle/Pistol Olympic Selection Trials

New Delhi [India], April 18 (ANI): Palak’s quota win at the on-going Rio qualifiers has completed the athletes’ field for the upcoming first ever Olympic Selection Trials (OST) in the Rifle and Pistol disciplines. The first two of the four trials are scheduled here at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range from Thursday and a total of 37 marksmen and women will take aim in the eight Olympic events, four each for each discipline.

A 10-day detail has been announced by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), the governing body for Shooting Sport in the country, for the same, with each event seeing five qualified shooters based on the Olympic selection policy criteria. The two women’s pistol events are the only ones which have seen common shooters, three of them in-fact, make the trials cut.

Palak and Surbhi Rao from the Rio squad will join Rhythm Sangwan, Esha Singh and Manu Bhaker in the women’s air-pistol line-up, with the latter three also having qualified for the women’s 25m pistol trials, the first of the eight finals on the roster, slated for April 20.

That will be followed by the men’s 25m Rapid-Fire Pistol (RFP) T1 final. The second trial match for both these events concludes on April 22.

The men’s and women’s 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) event follows next with the T1 finals scheduled on April 24. The 3P concludes with the T2 finals on April 26.

The first 10m Air Rifle and Air Pistol men’s and women’s finals take place on April 25, while they also conclude the OST on April 27, with their T2 finals scheduled one after the other.

Schedule and Format

The OST will follow the declared Paris Olympic schedule where the finals will happen the day after qualifications. Also, eliminations in the finals will proceed normally and the fifth shooter will be the first to exit at his or her regular stage of elimination.