European Shooting Championship: Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar continues good form in men's 3P

Osijek: Youngster Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar continued his good run of form in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions, shooting 1172 in the competition’s Minimum Qualification Score (MQS) section at the ongoing European Championship on Saturday. The 20-year-old New Delhi World Cup gold medallist grabbed third place in the MQS. The men’s 3P saw some top-class shooting, particularly in the morning when the regulars shot, and while Aishwary finished third in the 11-strong MQS section, his total score would have given him the 23rd spot in the regular qualification. The seasoned Sanjeev Rajput, also a World Cup gold winner, aggregated 1162 across the three series of kneeling, standing and prone to settle for the eighth position. Both Aishwary and Rajput had good rounds in the first two kneeling and prone positions, with both logging perfect 100 in the kneeling position, but were done in by an unimpressive outing in the final standing position. Aishwary shot 385 out of 400 in the standing position while Rajput managed 379. Both had shot a minimum 391 in the 40-shots in kneeling and prone positions earlier. “The regular and MQS details were separate today and the regulars shot in the morning, when the weather was really good and the wind was calm. Our guys also had very good starts, but the wind picked up just before the standing position and scores probably dropped off a bit due to that,” said rifle coach Deepali Deshpande. “Aishwary, in particular, is a strong standing shooter in 3P and after the first two positions, we were expecting better of course but, in the end, given the circumstances, I would say we were pleased. “He has shot higher internationally in Pilsen (Czech Republic) about two years back when he shot 1173. In that context, we are happy with today and the way him and everyone else in the team is shaping up,” the coach added. Iran’s Pourya Norouziyan topped the MQS with 1174 and he was followed by Italy’s Simon Weithaler (1173). The 13-member Indian Olympic pistol and rifle squad are on a training and competition trip to Croatia, from where they will directly reach Tokyo for the Olympics. At the Tokyo Games, both Tomar and Rajput will be fielded in the 50m rifle 3 positions event. Tomar is also one of the reserve shooters for the men’s 10m air rifle competition in the Japanese capital. Tomar had claimed the gold medal in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions event in the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi in March, besides winning the men’s team air rifle silver in the same tournament. Tomar has come a long way from the time when he was disqualified from his first Nationals in 2015, and then suspended for an entire year due to a technical reason. Training rigorously for a year, he returned in 2016 and in 2018, Tomar won three gold medals in the junior nationals in all three rifle disciplines. Having made his way into the Indian junior team, Tomar shone in the events he participated in before securing the Olympic quota.