Isha Taksale scored 252.9 in the final and beat Asian championship gold medalist Elavenil Valarivan by 0.1 point in women’s air rifle in the National shooting selection trials at the Madhya Pradesh Academy on Saturday (September 20, 2025).
Isha qualified in the eighth place with 631.8, but wound up the final with sterling shots of 10.6 and 10.8 to pip the experienced Elavenil who had enjoyed a 0.6 point lead before the last two shots of the 24-shot final.
Quaification topper Narmada NIthin (634.8) placed third ahead of Shreya Agrawal, Sakshi Padekar, Ismita Bhowal, Meghana Sajjanar and Ananya Naidu.
In the 25-metre rapid fire pistol, Neeraj Kumar beat Raajwardan Paatil 33-26 for the top spot, after having top scored in qualification with 588.
Adarsh Singh who qualified in the sixth place with 577, rose to the third spot ahead of Sameer, Udhayveer Sidhu and Omkar Singh.
Top shooters Bhavesh Shekhawat, Anish Bhanwala and Ankur Goel shot 577 along with a few others and missed the final on lesser number of inner-10s.
The results:
10m air rifle: Women: 1. Isha Taksale 252.9 (631.8); 2. Elavenil Valarivan 252.8 (632.6); 3. Narmada Nithin 231.2 (634.8).
25m rapid fire pistol: Men: 1. Neeraj Kumar 33 (588); 2. Raajwardan Paatil 26 (583); 3. Adarsh Singh 24 (577).
Published – September 21, 2025 05:20 am IST
