Shooting: Arpit Goel bags top honours on Day 1, Olympic medallist Vijay Kumar wins two medals

New Delhi: Arpit Goel of Delhi put in a dominant performance to bag the gold in the 25m rapid fire pistol senior men’s category on day one of the 18th KSS Memorial Shooting Championship in Delhi on Wednesday.

In the final field of six including Olympian Gurpreet Singh and London 2012 silver medallist Vijay Kumar, Goel was ahead of the pack from the beginning, remaining unchallenged with a score of 34 points to win his first medal in India. He has previously won a gold at the International Shooting Championship in Hannover, Germany in May.

Shivam Shukla of the Air Force bagged the silver with 29 points while Vijay shot 24 points to finish third.

Interestingly, Goel, who is shooting since 2005, is not a rapid fire shooter and used to compete on the 10m event. However, he was fascinated by this discipline and shifted when he got the chance.

The Delhi lad is not just a shooter but also runs a business of shooting equipment that keeps his passion for the sport alive.

A few years back he started a company that makes customised ear plugs for shooters that also imports and sells other accessories.

The company has helped him channel some of his energy as he admits that he used to not do that well when he was just a shooter, concentratring on improving his performance. But on Wednesday, he led the field with a string of good scores and got 5/5 hits on more than one occasion.

Two medals for Vijay Kumar

On a comeback trail, Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar won a bronze medal in his pet 25m rapid fire pistol event, besides accounting for a gold in the team event.

Vijay led from the front as he notched up a score of 579 for Haryana. His teammates, Adarsh Singh and Harpreet Singh looked in great touch as the team scored a cumulative score of 1723 to secure he gold.

The Army Markman Unit, comprising Gurmeet, Gurpreet Singh and Pemba Tamang, were not far behind with a score of 1711 to grab the second place. Asian Shooting Championship (Team) bronze medalist Akshay Ashtaputre couldn’t work his magic here as his teammates Shivraj Sase and Vikrant Ghaisas scored a cumulative 1700 for Maharashtra to finish third.

In the 25m rapid fire pistol junior category, Adarsh Singh, who bagged a gold in the team event, defeated Gun for Glory shooter Harshawardhan Yadav by a narrow margin of just one point to clinch his second gold in the prestigious tournament.

Harshawardhan had glory in his sight but couldn’t capitalize on the moment as he scored 21 points to Adarsh’s 22. Languishing behind with 17 points, Mandeep Singh took the third spot.

RESULTS

25M Rapid Fire Pistol Sr. Men (Individual)

1.Gold – Arpit Goel (Delhi) – final score 34

2.Silver – Shivam Shukla (Air Force) – 29

3.Bronze – VIJAY Kumar (Haryana) – 25

25M Rapid Fire Pistol Team Event (Sr.)

Gold – Haryana Score 1723

-Adarsh Singh - 574

-Harpreet Singh - 570

-Vijay Kumar - 579

Silver - Army Markman Unit Score 1711

-Gurmeet - 561