Rajeshwari, Vivaan Win Season’s First Trap Shooting National Trials

Karni Singh Shooting: Paris 2024 Olympics quota winner Rajeshwari Kumari won the women’s trap national selection trials 1, while Vivaan Kapoor triumphed in the men’s trap, here at the Karni Singh Shooting ranges in the city on Tuesday. Both the finals went to a shoot-off.

In women’s trap, Rajeshwari, India’s number one woman trap shooter, topped the qualification round held over three days, with a score of 118. Teenager Bhavya Tripathi of Delhi, who won silver, shot 114 to grab one of the six qualifying spots, but improved upon her fifth position to end tied at 43-hits with Rajeshwari in the final.

Bhavya then missed the first shoot-off shot as Rajeshwari made no mistake to take the match. Shreyasi Singh was third.

Vivaan’s route to the title was a bit different as he shot 121 in qualification to finish second to Shardul Vihaan, who shot a table-topping 122. The Rajasthan trap shooter then hit 44-targets in the final and found himself tied with veteran Zoravar Singh Sandhu after the regulation 50-targets.

It was the second time Vivaan would face Zoravar in a shoot-off on the day. At the end of qualification, Vivaan had pipped Zoravar 1-0 to take the higher bib number going into the final. This time around, the veteran put up a better fight, but missed his third shoot-off target as Vivaan blasted all three.

Former world champion Manavjit Sandhu came third.