Shooting nationals: Army’s Ajay Kumar, Karnataka’s Jonathan shine
Army shooter Ajay Kumar clinched the men’s 10m air pistol gold while Karnataka’s Jonathan Gavin Antony made a clean sweep of the top-podium spots in the sub-youth, youth and junior categories to make it a golden treble in the National Shooting Championships on Saturday.
Kumar finished on top with a score of 241.1, edging out Railways’ Shubham Bisla, who settled for silver with 240.1 after a closely-fought final. Haryana’s Anmol Jain secured the bronze with 220.0. Haryana’s Shiva Narwal narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth with 197.2, while Navy shooters Aakash Bhardwaj and Ujjawal Malik came in fifth and sixth.
The qualification round saw intense competition, with Ujjawal Malik (Navy), Rahul Serawat (Rajasthan), and Shiva Narwal (Haryana) shooting identical 584, differentiated by ‘inner-10’ counts. Malik topped the qualification on 584 (22x), followed by Serawat (584 (17x) and Narwal (584 (17x). Arjun Singh Cheema (583-23x), Anmol Jain (583-22x), Ajay Kumar (583-20x), Shubham Bisla (583-16x), and Aakash Bhardwaj (582-25x) completed the list of finalists.
Among notable names, Paris Olympics bronze medallist Sarabjot Singh finished 19th with 580, while reigning world champion Samrat Rana ended 71st on 576. Defending champion Varun Tomar finished 99th with 575. The youth men’s final saw Jonathan produce a composed performance to top the field with a score of 240.0. Punjab’s Guntajpreet Singh secured the silver with 236.0, while Uttar Pradesh’s Savej Khan claimed bronze (214.3).
Jonathan then returned to win the junior men’s title with a score of 240.5. Haryana’s Shiva Narwal finished a close second with 240.3, while Rajasthan’s Yogesh Kumar secured bronze on 218.2. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu edged past Madhya Pradesh 36-35 to clinch the senior trap mixed team gold. Prithviraj Tondaiman scored 19, while Nilaa Rajaa Baalu contributed 17 in the win.
National women’s trap champion Neeru Dhanda and Arshad Hasan Khan fought hard with 20 and 15 hits respectively to settle for silver. The bronze went to Rajasthan, which defeated Haryana 42-37. In the junior trap mixed team gold-medal match, Tamil Nadu claimed the national title, defeating Haryana 39-35. Yugan SM (22) and Tanisska Senthilkumar (17) were on target for TN. Haryana’s Arjun and Suhanya Singh scored 18 and 17, respectively.
