Mukesh Kumar retains Rapid Fire title

By Our Sport Reporter

PHILLAUR, NOV. 25. In contrast to last year, when he had come from nowhere to emerge champion, Mukesh Kumar of Navy put up a splendid display of nerves to defend his men's Rapid Fire title, in the 44th National shooting championship, which concluded at the Punjab Police Academy (PPA) ranges, here on Saturday.

Defending the Rapid Fire title is not very easy, just as winning after having a slender lead going into the final, is not. With just one point separating him from second-paced Mohinder Singh of the Border Security Force (BSF), the pressure was all on Mukesh. But the Coimbatore-posted marksman shot three 10s each in each round of five fires, to keep the field at bay.

He tallied 666.3 points, with armyman Dhyan Singh overtaking Mohinder for the silver at 664.7, even as the BSF shooter came in third at 659.9 points.

``It was much different shooting this time, when all eyes were on me. Last time, there was no pressure and a fine rally in the final had got me the title. This event is such that a whole series of five can go bad, so it is always a touch-and-go affair when the scores are so close,'' said a jubilant Mukesh, who kept the lead after the first round of five in the final as well. On the other hand, Dhyan's superb five 10s in the first series of five propelled him to the second position, and he hung on there with two 10s in the second series. Jaspal Rana, who was on fourth position before the final, fell down to eighth place, making this an edition he would like to forget. He had said before the meet that he had not come here with enough practice,

and it showed in the end.

Two juniors, Ronak Pandit and Pemba Tamang too made the final, after bettering the National record in the junior section. Ronak, son of famous shooter Ashok Pandit, returned a score of 562, erasing the previous mark of 558, also in Ronak's name. In the women's Rifle Three-Position, Suma Dixit of Railways came up with a superb effort in the final to overtake Anjali Vedpathak and Kuheli Gangulee, who held the joint lead going into the final. Suma Dixit's score in the final, held in the standing position, read 9.6, 10.1, 10.6, 9.3, 10.3, 9.7, 9.8, 9.9, 9.7 and 10.3, after 665.3 in the preliminaries consisting of prone and kneeling positions.

The results:

Men's Rapid Fire Pistol (25m): 1. Mukesh Kumar (Navy) 666.3, 2. Dhyan Singh (Army) 664.7, 3. Mohinder Singh (BSF) 659.9.

Team: 1. Army (Ram Kishan 558, Bhanwar Lal Dhaka 559, Dhyan Singh 566) 1,683, 2. BSF 1667, 3. Navy 1,655.

Civilian: 1. Raj Khalid (Mah) 534.

Juniors: 1. Ronak Pandit (Mah) 562 (NNR, old 558, Ronak Pandit, Pleszen, Czec Republic, 2000), 2. Pemba Tamang (Army) 559, 3. Anunay Yadav (UP) 534.

Junior civilian: 1. Alok Singh (IA) 533.

Women's Rifle Three-Position: 1. Suma Dixit (Rly) 665.3, 2. Anjali Vedpathak (CISF) 662, 3. Kuheli Gangulee (CISF) 660.2.

Team: 1. CISF (Kuheli Gangulee 568, Anjali Vedpathak 568, Leena Shirodkar 540) 1,676, 2. Railways 1,669, 3. Infantory Kids 1,643.

Junior women: 1. Meena Kumari (Inf) 559, 2. Raj Kumari (Inf) 552, 3. Sabeeha Dhillon (Pun) 544.

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