Dehradun (Uttarakhand)[India], June 24 : The opening day of competitions at the National Selection Trials 3 and 4 (Group 'A' Rifle/Pistol) saw Olympian Anish Bhanwala emerge on top of the leaderboard in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol (RFP) T3 Men's qualification Stage 1, held here at the Trishul Shooting Range, Maharana Pratap Sports College, Raipur, according to an official statement from the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).
Anish delivered a solid and consistent performance, shooting a series of 99, 97 and 97, to finish with a total of 293 at the end of round one of qualifications. His Paris Olympics teammate Vijayveer Sidhu (99,99,94) followed closely to take second spot with 292, while Anish's statemate from Haryana, Mandeep Singh, stood third with 290, the statement added.
Rounding off the top five were Pradeep Singh Shekhawat (Navy) with 290 and Uttarakhand's own Ankur Goel with 289.
The top six shooters after Stage 2 of qualification will advance to the final of the event.
The action continues on Wednesday with Stage 2 of the men's RFP T3 qualifications, preceding the final. Two more finals, the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women and the 10m Air Rifle Men, are also scheduled for Day 2.
These trials will help in shaping the Indian shooting team for the 16th Asian Shooting Championships 2025 in Kazakhstan in August and the ISSF World Cup in Ningbo, China, in September.