Manu Bhaker storms into 25m Pistol final

Khel Today Bureau

New Delhi: Double Olympic bronze medallist Manu Bhaker, stormed into her third consecutive medal round of the on-going Paris Games, shooting 590 out of a possible 600 in the 25m Pistol Women qualification round, to take the second of eight coveted qualifying spots. Hungary’s Veronika Major topped the 40-strong field with an Olympic record equalling score of 592.

Manu shot 294 in the first Precision stage following it up with a 296 in the second Rapid-Fire stage. She has earlier won bronze medals in the women’s 10m Air Pistol Women and in partnership with Sarabjot Singh, in the Mixed Team 10m Air Pistol events at these Games.

Esha Singh, the second Indian contender in the event, shot a solid Precision stage for a 291, but a 290 in the Rapid meant a score of 581, giving the teenager a creditable 18th place finish in her debut Olympics.

The final on Saturday will feature countries from as many as eight countries including China, hosts France, Hungary, Iran, Korea, USA and Vietnam, besides India and promises to be a blockbuster.

The other Indian in the fray on the day was Anant Jeet Singh Naruka in the Skeet Men event where he shot a three-rounds score of 68 to be way below the pecking order. He will come back on Saturday for the final two rounds of qualification.