Apurvi Chandela bags air rifle gold

Geetakshi Dixit clinched the silver, one point behind Apurvi.

The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh poses with the women's air rifle medallists Apurvi Chandela, Geetakshi Dixit and Anjum Moudgil

Apurvi Chandela won the women’s gold in air rifle in the 59th National shooting championship on Tuesday.

Geetakshi Dixit clinched the silver, one point behind Apurvi.

In a lively final, it was Anjum Moudgil who led throughout before she stumbled with shots of 9.6 and 9.9 that left her clutching the bronze medal.

Apurvi had a 0.4 point lead over Geetakshi before the last two shots. Apurvi responded with shots of 10.0 and 10.6, while Geetakshi delivered the first shot that was not a 10 in the final.

“I was nervous initially, but I settled to shoot a good final. I am very happy with the medal, as I did not expect anything”, said Geetakshi.

“I am happy that I caught up. Am happy that young shooters are doing so good,” said Apurvi.

In the men’s rifle 3-position event, Chain Singh pipped Gagan Narang by 1.6 points for the gold. Swapnil Kusale came up with a creditable bronze ahead of Deepak Kumar, Sanjeev Rajput, Imran Hasan Khan, Satyendra Singh and N.P. Parida.

In the junior men’s sports pistol, Achal Pratap Singh Grewal dominated by beating Gurmeet Singh by nine points with a total of 580.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was the chief guest, impressed with shots of 10.5 and 10.6 with the air rifle, before awarding the medals.

The results: Men: 50m rifle 3-position: 1. Chain Singh 452.8 (1166); 2. Gagan Narang 451.1 (1170); 3. Swapnil Kusale 441.7 (1166).

Junior men: 25m sports pistol: 1. Achal Pratap Singh Grewal 580; 2. Gurmeet Singh 571; 3. Aadeithya Johal 568.

Women: 10m air rifle: 1. Apurvi Chandela 207.8 (417.0); 2. Geetakshi Dixit 206.8 (414.4); 3. Anjum Moudgil 185.7 (415.6).

Juniors: 1. Geetakshi Dixit 414.4; 2. Prachi Pramod Gadkari 413.8; 3. Nupur Hagawane Patil 413.5.

Youth: 1. Nupur Hagawane Patil 413.5; 2. Ayushi Podder 410.4; 3. Manini Kaushik 410.4.

Man Singh leads

In the 59th National shotgun championship at Jaipur, Man Singh led with a perfect score of 100 after four rounds in men’s skeet on Tuesday.

Mairaj Ahmad Khan was on 97.

The last round of the qualification event will be followed by the knockout phase on Wednesday.