World and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra shot 594 in the second selection trials at Pune, to make the air rifle team for the World championship. He had shot 590 in the earlier trials, leading to doubts about him making the team.
In the aggregate after the two trials, Bindra had a score of 1184, the fourth best behind Gagan Narang (1189), Imran Hasan Khan (1186) and junior shooter Rakesh Manpat (1186). However, with the addition of three merit points for being the reigning World champion and one more point for being ranked No. 14 in the world, Bindra, who had a series of 99, 98, 98, 100, 99, 100 made the grade easily.
India will field three shooters in each event for the World championship.
World No. 2 Gagan Narang, focusing only on air rifle for the World championship, was on top of the list of 38 shooters with a score of 594. He had shot 595 in the earlier trials.
Kumar tops list
In the 25-metre centre fire pistol event, Vijay Kumar topped the list of 21 shooters with an aggregate of 1179 points. He had shot 590 and 589 in the two trials. Harpreet Singh and Omkar Singh with cumulative scores of 1166 and 1164 respectively, pipped Samaresh Jung (1163). Samaresh who had emerged among the top three only in the standard pistol event, came up with a 578 after an impressive 585 earlier.
Meanwhile, in the shotgun trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore shot 129 in double trap, three points behind Mohammed Asab, and one point ahead of Vikram Chopra, Ajay Mittal and Mahesh. If he shoots a good score in the second trials, Rathore should be able to make the team.
Ronjan Sodhi and Vikram Bhatnagar with high base scores of 142.12 and 137.84 opted to skip the trials, as allowed by the rules.
In trap, Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Mansher Singh opted to skip the trials and retain their base scores of 118.62 and 116.87. Zorawar Singh with a base score of 114 was forced to pull out due to a shoulder injury.
