European Championship: India's Aishwary Pratap shoots 1172, Henrik Larsen tops qualifiers

Youngster Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, continued his good run of form in the men's 50M Rifle 3 Positions (3P) event, shooting a score of 1172 in the minimum qualification score (MQS) section in the ongoing European Shooting Championship in Osijek on Saturday.

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 score would have been good enough for 23rd spot in the Regular section.

It is to be mentioned that the youngster won gold in the event, in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup stage in New Delhi in March earlier this year.

"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 at the end of the day.

"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 about two years back when he shot 1173. In that context, we are happy with today and the way he and everyone else in the team is shaping up," she added.

Aishwary's senior teammate Sanjeev Rajput, who would be taking his start alongside the youngster in Tokyo come July, shot a subdued 1162 to finish eighth in the MQS section.

Both Aishwary and Sanjeev had good rounds in the first two Kneeling and Prone positions, with both logging one perfect 100 in the kneeling position, but were undone by a soft outing in the final Standing position as stated above.

Aishwary shot 385 out of 400 in the Standing position, while Sanjeev managed 379. Both had shot a minimum 391 in the 40-shots of the Kneeling and Prone positions earlier.

While Iran's Pourya Norouziyan topped the MQS section with a score of 1174, it was Norway's Henrik Larsen who carried on his stupendous form in the Championship, with a classy 1186, to top the qualification all-round among regulars. 1179, was the final qualification spot for the eight-man final.

( With inputs from ANI )