Divyansh, Ankur among new champions at 64th NSCC as Olympic events conclude

Divyansh, Ankur among new champions at 64th NSCC as Olympic events conclude

Tokyo Olympian Divyansh Singh Panwar got back to winning ways on the final day of rifle competitions while Double Trap shooter Ankur Mittal announced his arrival into the Olympic Trap circuit by winning gold ahead of other hopefuls as the 64th National Shooting Championship Competitions (NSCC) head towards conclusion.

The pistol leg of the Shooting Nationals at New Delhi ended with the culmination of the Women’s 25m Pistol event. The rifle leg at Bhopal ended today with Men’s 10m Air Rifle while the shotgun leg at Patiala will end on the 14th after the Double Trap competition concludes.

Men’s 10m Air Rifle

Divyansh Singh Panwar
Divyansh Singh Panwar

Divyansh Singh Panwar’s Olympic campaign may have been a debacle but the youngster from Rajasthan showed he has a lot more to offer after winning both the Senior and Junior golds in the Men’s 10m AR competition at the Nationals.

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Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil of Maharashtra won three silvers and also gave evidence of being one to look out for in the future.

Divyansh led through most of the Senior finals with Hriday Hazarika of Assam being a close 2nd. A dramatic 8th series saw Hriday shoot a 9.1 causing his elimination in 3rd place while Rudrankksh got into the lead with a 10.7. However a 9.8 in the very next shot by Rudrankksh gave the advantage back to Divyansh. Divyansh finished with a final score of 250 in comparision to 249.3 by Rudrankksh.

Both Divyansh (630.3) and Rudrankksh (630.1) were a cut above the rest in qualifications. Srinjoy Datta (629.5) and Gokul Raj RK (629.2) were the only other shooters to match the Tokyo 2020 cut-off of 629.2.

Hriday scored 628.6 while 8th place went to Paarth Makhija with 627.8. Deepak Kumar, the other Men’s AR shooter at Tokyo, finished 10th with 626.4. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (626.2) could also not qualify after a 12th place finish.

Junior and Youth

Divyansh (252.2) led from start to finish in the high-scoring Junior finals. Rudrankksh (251.2) tried his best but could not catch up with the 2019 World Cup Finals winner. Delhi’s Paarth Makhija finished 3rd.

Keval Jashvantbhai Prajapati of Gujarat won the Youth title with a new NSCC Youth record of 252.1. Rudrankksh (250.4) again had to play second fiddle. Sri Karthik Sabari Raj of Tamil Nadu finished 3rd. Neither Keval (626.3) nor Karthik (626.1) had qualified for the Senior or Junior finals.

Parth Rakesh Mane of Maharashtra topped the Sub Youth qualifications with 625.7.

Team

Army Marsmanship Unit (Gokul Raj RK, Sandeep, Manjeet Singh) won the Team title with a combined score of 1880.0. Rajasthan (Divyansh, Deependra Singh Shekhawat, Yash Vardhan) were 2nd with 1877.2 while Railways (Shahu Tushar Mane, Nitish Kumar, Akhil Sheoran) were 3rd with 1876.2.

Men’s Trap

ONGC’s Ankur Mittal, the winner of the Double Trap gold back at the 2018 World Championships, won his first Olympic Trap competition at the Nationals.

Ankur won the finals with a score of 43. Aditya Bharadwaj of Rajasthan was 2nd with 40. Rayyan Rizvi of UP was 3rd.

Qualifications were topped by Zoravar Singh Sandhu (119) who finished 4th in the finals. Both Ankur and Aditya shot 117 while Rayyan shot 116. The cut-off was also 116. Veteran Manavjit Singh Sandhu shot 109 and finished well outside the qualification range.

No Indian Trap shooter was able to qualify for Tokyo 2020 and the likes of Ankur would be looking to fill the void left by Manavjit and Mansher Singh.

Shapath Bharadwaj of Uttarakhand won the Junior title by defeating Rajasthan’s Vivaan Kapoor in a shoot-off after both were tied at 41. Aakash Kushwaha of MP won bronze. Aakash (117) was the only Junior shooter to qualify for the Senior finals where he finished 5th.

Rajasthan (Vivaan, Adhiraj Singh Rathore, Manavaditya Singh Rathore) won the Team title with a combined score of 333. Delhi (Fahd Sultan, Kabir Sharma, Yuvraj Kumar Mahajan) were 2nd with 332 while Haryana (Bhowneesh Mendiratta, Lakshay Sheoran, Lakshjeet Singh Sindhu) were 3rd also with 332.

Mixed Trap

MP’s Aakash Kushwaha continued his good form into Mixed Trap where he and Women’s Trap silver medalist Pragati Dubey defeated Haryana’s Lakshay Sheoran and Bhavna Chaudhary by a score of 42-37 in the gold medal match.

In the bronze match, the Tamil Nadu team of R. Prithviraj Tondaiman and N. Nivetha defeated Rajasthan’s Manavaditya Singh Rathore and Anushka Singh Bhati by a score of 45-37.

MP had topped qualifications with 132.

In the Junior competition held under a different format, Delhi’s Kabir Sharma and Aadya Tripathi won gold with a score of 39; UP’s Shardul Vihan and Sabeera Haris won silver with a score of 38 while Rajasthan’s Vivaan Kapoor and Harshita Chandrawat won bronze. UP had topped qualifications with a score of 131.

Women’s Rifle 50m Prone

MP’s Bandhvi Singh won this non-Olympic competition with a score of 626. Telangana’s Surabhi Bharadwaj Rapole was 2nd with 623.7 while DGQA’s Ankita Gupta was 3rd with 620.3. Bandhvi and Surabhi also won gold and silver in the Junior competition with the same scores where MP’s Ashi Chouksey was 3rd with 619. No finals were held for this event.