KSSM Shooting C'ship: Kiran Jadhav takes men's air rifle crown

New Delhi, May 3 (IANS) The reigning 3P national champion and India international Kiran Ankush Jadhav, extended his good run of form by winning the men’s 10m air rifle title at the ongoing 23rd Kumar Surendra Singh Memorial (KSSM) Shooting Championship, here at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range.

The Navy shooter, who will be part of the Indian team for the Munich leg of the World Cup next month, shot 251.5 over 24 shots, to win ahead of two Army marksmen, Vivek Sharma and Vishal Singh.

Vivek finished 1.4 behind Kiran to take silver while Vishal took bronze, bowing out to Vivek in a shoot-off, after both had tied at 230.1after 22-shots.

Maharashtra bagged the junior men’s title when Parth Rakesh Mane pipped Uma Mahesh Maddineni of Andhra Pradesh at the last shot, winning by the narrowest possible margin of 0.1 in a thrilling final.

Uma Mahesh was 0.3 ahead going into the 24th and final shot, but a 10.0 was not enough, as Parth fired a 10.4 to snatch the win. Karnataka’s Naraen Suresh won bronze.

Abhinav Shaw won a fourth gold at the championship, taking the men’s air rifle youth crown, shooting 252.2 in the final, 0.5 ahead of Parth, denying him a double on the day. Guruu Sabari of Tamil Nadu won bronze (230.3).

Earlier, 17-year-old Abhinav Shaw did the star turn in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event, winning all three golds on offer, in the Olympic event. Incidentally, the West Bengal rifle shooter, the youngest ever medalist at the Nationals, is also the reigning junior world champion in the mixed team event.

In the senior final, Abhinav partnered with World Championship bronze medalist Mehuli Ghosh and the two overwhelmed the Railways’ pairing of Meghana Sajjanar and Shahu Tushar Mane, 16-4. Elavenil Valarivan and Smit Rameshbhai Moradiya won bronze for Gujarat.

In the gold match in the junior section, partnered with Swati Chowdhury to beat Shambhavi and Parth Rakesh Mane of Maharashtra 16-12, in a tightly contested final. Abhinav Agrawal and Gautami Bhanot picked up bronze for Madhya Pradesh (M.P), giving Gautami her first medal of the day.

--IANS

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