Haryana’s Anish Bhanwala improved his own national record in men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol qualification round, enroute to four gold medals at the 65th National Shooting Championship Competitions. Akhil Sheoran of the Railways and Karnataka’s Yukhti Rajendra, won the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) and women’s 10m air rifle national crowns respectively.
At the MP Shooting Academy range in Bhopal, Anish won the men’s and junior men’s RFP titles along with the team golds in both those events to register a red-letter day on the personal front. In the process, he beat his own national record score of 588 in qualifying to top the 112 strong field with a score of 590. He had set the previous record in the 2019 ISSF World Cup in Delhi.
In the four-man semi-final, Anish was second to Punjab’s Vijayveer Sidhu with a score of 14 to the former’s 15 hits, but in the medal match he managed to turn the tables on Vijayveer, with 28 hits to the Punjab lad’s 27, sealing victory. Uttarakhand’s Ankur Goel won bronze.
In the men’s junior RFP, Anish got the better of state-mate Adarsh Singh, 33 to 27 as Punjab’s Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu won bronze. In the team events, he teamed up with Sameer and Adarsh to win for a memorable four-gold haul.
Over at the Vattiyoorkkavu Shooting Range in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, where the Rifle Nationals concluded on the day, the Railways’ Akhil Sheoran overcame organisation colleague Swapnil Suresh Kusale 16-6 in the gold medal clash. Akhil also topped the ranking round with an effort of 412.6 as Swapnil finished second with 406.7. Madhya Pradesh’s Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar won bronze with an effort of 406.2 in the ranking round.
Olympian Aishwary did win gold however as MP won both the men’s and junior men’s team events in the discipline. Ramanya Tomer of the Army won the junior men’s 3P crown over Sartaj Tiwana of Punjab by a margin of 16-4.
In the women’s 10m air rifle, Karnataka’s Yukthi Rajendra pulled off a stunning victory after qualifying eighth for the ranking round. She finished second in the top eights with a score of 261.7, even as Gautami Bhanot, who had topped the qualifiers, maintained form to top again with 262.6. Olympian Elavenil Valarivan won bronze.
But Yukthi it was who had the last laugh, as she defeated the Madhya Pradesh teenager 17-11 in the title decider. It was a double gold for her as well as she also won the junior women’s air rifle, this time with 16-12 result over the same opponent.