Palak Surbhi in list of 10m air pistol shooters for Olympic trials

New Delhi, Apr 17 (PTI) Teen shooter Palak Gulia was rewarded for her Paris quota-winning performance in Rio de Janeiro as she secured a spot among the five women 10m air pistol shooters for the Olympic trials, scheduled to commence at the Karni Singh Ranges here on Thursday.
     The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) had announced in March the list of competitors for pistol and rifle trials to select the team for the Paris Olympics, but had withheld the names in the women's 10m air pistol category as the Final Olympic Qualification Championship (Rifle and Pistol) in Rio was scheduled in mid-April.
     After Palak secured the 20th Olympic quota for the country in Rio with a bronze-medal finish, she along with Asian Games medallist Esha Singh, Olympian Manu Bhaker, 2023 World Championships gold-medallist in 25m sports pistol Rhythm Sangwan and Surbhi Rao will now compete for Paris berths in a series of four trials to be held here and in Bhopal.
     The best three scores from the four trials (April 18-27 in New Delhi and May 10-19 in Bhopal) will decide who will book tickets to Paris.
     An NRAI statement said on Wednesday that five qualified shooters in pistol and rifle events based on its Olympic selection policy criteria will compete in the trials.
     The trials in men's 25m rapid fire and women's 25m sports pistol will be held first (finals on April 20 and 22), which will be followed by the men's and women's 50m rifle 3-positions event on April 24 and 26 respectively.
     The 10m air rifle and air pistol men's and women's finals will take place on April 25 and 27 respectively.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)