Expect surprises and heartbreaks as India's top shooters go all out to secure their Paris Olympics berths in the Olympic Selection Trials (OST) starting at the Karni Singh Shooting Range here on Thursday.

This is the first time that India's shooting team for the Olympics will be selected based on a set of domestic selection trials. The change was brought about after India failed to win a medal at the last two Olympics. The first set of two selection trials for rifle and pistol shooters will take place here, followed by another set of two trials in Bhopal in May.

The big positive going into the OST is that Indian shooters have bagged all the eight available quota places each in rifle and pistol events. The last quota was secured by Asian Games champion Palak Gulia in 10m air pistol on Sunday.

With an Olympic spot on the line, it will be a test of nerves and skills for the shooters. Five of India's best shooters will be in the fray in each of the four rifle and pistol events. The 37 shooters have been picked by the federation’s (NRAI) selection committee based on world rankings and domestic rankings (as per criteria set). The onus will be on the 16 quota winners to defend their places. Bonus points for winning a quota have been drastically cut his time, which makes it an open race as competitors chase their Paris dream.

Considering how close domestic competition has been in the last two years to secure places for Olympic qualifiers and shoot down quotas, expect intense battles for each berth.

Three common shooters -- Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan -- will be competing in air pistol and 25m pistol events, making it the most exciting contest. They will be gunning for spots in both events. Among them, if one shooter wins two berths -- which is highly possible, it will free up one quota which India can use to field a shooter in women's shotgun. The first final will be in women's 25m pistol on Saturday.

It will be a big opportunity for some of those who shot at the Tokyo Olympics, didn’t win a quota place but have kept themselves in the hunt with consistent performances. Seasoned Anjum Moudgil will be looking to win a berth in 50m rifle 3P, where the quotas were won by Sift Kaur Samra and Shriyanka Sadangi.

Divyansh Panwar seems to be peaking for the OST. He recently shot a world record score (632.4 pts) at the Cairo World Cup and topped it with a gold medal. He will be pumped up to earn one of these quotas won by 2022 world champion Rudrankksh Patil and Arjun Babuta.

Another big name, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, India's best in 50m rifle 3P, also doesn't have a quota, but will be a favourite to grab one of the spots from Akhil Sheoran and Swapnil Kusale, the two quota winners in men's 3P.

It will be a cut throat competition in women's 10m air rifle as well where Tokyo Olympian Elavenil Valarivan and Asian Games medallist Ramita will challenge quota winners Mehuli Ghosh and 16-year-old Tilottama Sen, who shot remarkably well to win an air rifle quota at the Asian Shooting Championships. The fifth shooter in the line-up is junior world record holder Nancy.

In the lead-up to the trials, most of these shooters have prepared on their own.

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