New Delhi, March 6 – Bhavesh Shekhawat took the early lead after Stage 1 in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event at the National Selection Trials T3, which began at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Ranges in the National Capital Region on Friday.
The shooter from Rajasthan scored a total of 294 – 11x (99, 99, 96) in the three series of the first stage to take the lead.
Olympian Anish Bhanwala scored 291 – 11x (97, 98, 96) to take second place, while Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu also scored 291 (96, 98, 97) to take third place. National champion Suraj Sharma followed with a score of 290 – 9x (98, 95, 97).
Ahead of a busy international and domestic calendar that begins next month, almost all of India’s top shooters are competing in 10 events of the National Selection Trials 3 (Group A), which include all eight Olympic events plus the rifle prone competitions for men and women.
Athletes will be aiming to achieve scores that will help them secure their place in the national squad for international competitions in the second half of the year.
The Rifle/Pistol Selection Trials 3 and 4 for Group B athletes also commenced on Friday and will be held at the M.P. State Shooting Academy in Bhopal until March 22, 2026. Following the selection trials, the national squad athletes will commence their coaching camp in New Delhi from March 10 to 21, 2026.
The National Squad camp for shotgun athletes commenced in New Delhi on Thursday, with the skeet shooters reporting first. The trap shooters will report for the national camp on March 8, 2026. The national squad camp will be followed by the pre-event camp before the ISSF World Cup Shotgun, the first World Cup of the year, which will be held in Tangier, Morocco, from March 21-April 3, 2026.
The Indian teams for the first two Rifle/Pistol (Granada and Munich) and Shotgun (Tangier and Almaty) ISSF World Cup stages of the year have already been announced earlier.
Meanwhile, in the National Selection Trials T3, the 10m rifle athletes will be in action on Saturday, with the qualification and finals scheduled along with Stage 2 and the finals of the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event.
Other results in T3 trials:
Ankur Goel – 289 – 12x (99, 96, 94)
Mukesh Nelavalli – 289 – 7x (99, 93, 97)
Vijayveer Sidhu – 289 – 6x (100, 98, 91)
Adarsh Singh – 289 – 4x (95, 97, 97)
Pradeep Singh – 286 – 9x (97, 97, 92)
Omkar Singh – 286 – 6x (98, 100, 88)
Udhayveer Sidhu – 284 – 7x (97, 96, 91)
Neeraj Kumar – 284 – 6x (98, 98, 88)
Mandeep Singh – 281 – 7x (96, 96, 89)