NEW DELHI: West Bengal's Ayushi Podder won the women's 50m rifle 3 positions competition as the national selection trials for rifle events got underway at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range here on Friday.
She got the better of Punjab's Sift Kaur Samra 16-10 in the gold-medal match.
Ayushi, presently ranked fourth in the country in the women's 3P Olympic event, made it to the top eight semifinal stage with a qualification round score of 585 out of 600, giving her the fifth place in a strong field of 86 shooters.
Among those who qualified were India number one Anjum Moudgil of Punjab and veteran Lajja Gauswami of Gujarat. Haryana's Meena Kumari topped the stage with 589.
In the semi-finals, Punjab's Samra, ranked three in the event in India, topped with a score of 407.4 to make it to the gold medal contest.
Ayushi followed Samra with 402 while Ashi Chouksey of Madhya Pradesh won bronze with a score of 399.4.
In the junior women's 3P event, Haryana's Nischal emerged triumphant when she overwhelmed Ashi, who otherwise had a good day, 16-6 in the gold medal match.
Mansi Sudhir Singh Kathait ensured MP had half the day's medals to their name, by winning bronze in the event.
The national selection trials 3 and 4 for rifle events are scheduled till April 17.
