Sanjeev Rajput and Samaresh Jung won their second individual gold medals in contrasting style, even as Anjali Bhagwat crowned herself the ‘Champion of Champions' among rifle shooters with a brilliant fare, as the curtains came down on the Sahara National shooting championship at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, here on Monday.
It was a strong show by Sanjeev, as the 30-year-old Navy marksman shot 1162 in the arduous 3-position event, taking an eight-point lead over the eventual silver medallist, Imran Hassan Khan of Army who had earlier won the air rifle gold.
Gagan Narang had to be content with the bronze as he slipped further in the final, after conceding a two-point lead to Imran Khan.
Fourth gold
It was the fourth National gold in the 3-position event for Sanjeev, who, incidentally, won the golds in rifle prone and 3-position events in the last National Games in Guwahati.
Samaresh Jung added the centre fire pistol gold with a tie-shoot of 50 to 45 against Pemba Tamang after the two had tied at 585. Samaresh had caught up with 295 in ‘duelling' after 290 in precision, and was flawless in winning his second gold in the event in the National championship following the one in Kerala two years ago.
In women's air rifle, World record-holder Suma Shirur of Railways, the ‘Champion of Champions' of the last edition in Jalandhar, beat the young Pooja Ghatkar of Maharashtra by 2.1 points.
Going into the final with a four-point lead over Pooja and Ayonika Paul, who eventually got the bronze 0.3 points ahead of Anjali Bhagwat, Suma lost her concentration a bit on the sixth shot in the final that resulted in an 8.8. She recovered to shoot strongly in winning her second gold in air rifle.
Anjali, the champion in the rifle 3-position event, won the shoot-off 10.8 to 10.1 against Shruti Bhatte Patil to claim the fourth spot after the two had tied at 495.6, having shot 102.6 in the final. Mampi Das of West Bengal, who won the youth gold, could not capitalise on her qualification score of 395 and finished seventh.
Good show
In a field that had six women and which did not have two of the finest rifle shooters, Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang, the 41-year-old Anjali was just too good as she came up with shots of 10.8, 10.8, 10.2, 10.3, 10.8, 105, 10.9, 10.6, 10.6, 9.8, 10.7, 10.5, 10.3 in the thrilling competition of the ‘Champion of Champions', in front of an appreciative audience.
The original ‘Champion of Champions' from the country nearly a decade ago in the ISSF World Cup final, Anjali was unfazed by the interruption during the competition owing to the Sports Minister Ajay Maken presenting air rifle medals, apart from the inefficient handling of the scoreboard display that caused long delays.
Anjali beat Pooja Ghatkar by 1.3 points in the three-shot final, after Dipa Patil, Shruti Bhatte Patil, Rakesh Manpat, Ayonika Paul, Suma Shirur and Sanjeev Rajput had been eliminated in that order.
The results: Men: Rifle 3-position: 1. Sanjeev Rajput 1261.1 (1162); 2. Imran Hassan Khan 1258.3 (1154); 3. Gagan Narang 1250.1 (1152). Team: 1. Army 3442; 2. Navy 3410; 3. Railways 3345. Juniors: 1. Rakesh Manpat 1146; 2. Shanahal Singh 1143; 3. Bibaswan Ganguly 1129. Team: 1. Army 3379; 2. Madhya Pradesh 3317; 3. Maharashtra 3301.
Centre fire pistol: 1. Samaresh Jung 585 (50); 2. Pemba Tamang 585 (45); 3. Pushpender Singh 582. Team: 1. Army 1743; 2. Navy 1716; 3. Maharashtra 1674. Juniors: 1. Kartikey Joshi 564; 2. Ravinder Singh 533; 3. Aman Pathania 514.
Sport pistol:Junior men: 1. Vikrant Ghaisas 557; 2. Pushkar Patidar 556; 3. Lakshya bansal 555. Team: 1. Maharashtra 1642; 2. Army 1601; 3. MP 1564. Women: Air rifle: 1. Suma Shirur 499.8 (398); 2. Pooja Ghatkar 497.7 (394); 3. Ayonika Paul 495.9 (394). Team: 1. Maharashtra 1177; 2. Railways 1176; 3. MP 1175. Juniors: 1. Ayonika Paul 394; 2. Shivangi Jalani 394; 3. Shruti Bhatte Patil 393. Team: 1. Maharashtra 1157; 2. Punjab 1151; 3. NCC 1149. Youth: 1. Mampi Das 395; 2. Priyanka Patil 392; 3. S. Praveena 390.
Team: 1. Maharashtra 1158; 2. Rajasthan 1149; 3. Haryana 1141.
