The World and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra kept the packed arena entertained with a high quality fare as he won the men’s air rifle gold in the 57th National shooting championship, at the Dr. Karni Singh Range Tughlakabad, on Tuesday.
London Games bronze medallist Gagan Narang missed the final by 0.6 point after he shot 616.2 earlier in the day in the qualification phase, but the likes of Sanjeev Rajput, defending champion Chain Singh and Ravi Kumar made it a lively affair, before Bindra pulled through with a string of high 10s that saw him win by a 4.6 point margin.
“It is okay. I have a few issues. It does not get any easier with age. I am willing to suffer and struggle,” said Bindra who wound up with a 10.8 last shot for a total of 208.9.
“I am very critical of my own shooting. I am less critical in the given circumstances, and take some positives. It is a lot of hard work,” said Bindra as he dissected the new rules which made it a different and difficult proposition, even as he expressed his unwillingness to discuss the problem of his painful back.
Ravi Kumar rulesRavi Kumar won the ‘Champion of Champions’ title in the mixed rifle event, beating Rajput 31.1 to 30.1 in the three-shot climax.
In the 25-metre centre-fire pistol, Pemba Tamang retained the gold with a total of 583, as he shot 290 in ‘duelling’ after having led on 293 at the ‘precision’ stage overnight.
The results:
Men: Air rifle: 1 . Abhinav Bindra 208.9 (622.3); 2. Ashok Chavanke 204.3 (617.8); 3. Sanjeev Rajput 182.8 (622.5).
Juniors: 1. Ekambir Singh Mandi 616.8; 2. Akhil sheoran 616.8; 3. Harmanvir S. Mansahia 614.3.
Youth: 1. Pratik Borse 612.6; 2. Vinaykumar Shashikant Patil 610.4; 3. Prashant 608.8.
Centre-fire pistol: 1. Pemba Tamang 583; 2. Vijay Kumar 579; 3. Harpreet Singh 578 (50); 4. Omkar Singh 578 (46).
Juniors: 1. Samarjit Singh 563; 2. Neeraj Kumar 561; 3. Pardeep 560.
Best shooters: Men: Vijay Kumar; Women: Raj Chaudhary.
Junior men: Samarjit Singh; Junior women: Elizabeth Susan Koshy.
