National champion Chain Singh asserted his supremacy as he topped the men’s air rifle with a score of 207.4, as Sanjeev Rajput came second best for the second successive day, in the shooting selection trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughalakabad, here on Sunday.
On another dramatic day, when former World and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra opted to skip the final, after having qualified in the fourth place with a total of 621.7, owing to a painful back, Chain Singh was a class act as he beat Sanjeev Rajput by 1.9 points.
The Army marksman shot 10.5 and 10.9 on the last two shots to outclass Sanjeev, who had finished second behind Abhinav Bindra on Saturday.
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While Ravi Kumar topped the qualifiers with a score of 625.4, Sanjeev Rajput (622.1) and Sachin Ananda Chavan (622.0) were equally impressive.
In men’s rapid fire pistol, Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar shot 33 in the final to overwhelm Harpreet Singh by four points, as he wound up with a perfect five. He missed seven points, in the 40 shots spread over eight series.
Mahendra Singh was third, ahead of Vikrant Ghaisas, Gurpreet Singh and Pemba Tamang.
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Vijay had qualified with a score of 582, as he shot 291 each in the two stages, with the four-second series fetching him scores of 93 and 95. Pemba Tamang (580), Harpreet Singh (579) and Gurpreet Singh (577) were also in fine nick, while Rahul Panwar (560) missed the final by one point.
In women’s rifle 3-position event, World Cup silver medallist Lajja Gauswami emphasised her efficiency, but Anjum Moudgil scared the wits off her before losing the top position by 0.6 point.
Lajja shot 449.2, and conceded 1.4 points on the last three shots to Anjum, but a prior two-point lead after 42 shots in the final saved the day for her.
Meena Kumari (577) who was second in qualification, one point behind Lajja, was placed third.