Shooting Nationals: Rahi Sarnobat, Shriyanka Sadangi win in 25m Pistol and 50m Rifle 3P

Shooting Nationals: Rahi Sarnobat, Shriyanka Sadangi win in 25m Pistol and 50m Rifle 3P

On the concluding day of pistol events at the Shooting Nationals, seasoned 25m Pistol shooter Rahi Sarnobat continued her good form from the ISSF President’s Cup to emerge as National Champion. Meanwhile in 50m Rifle 3 Positions Shriyanka Sadangi emerged triumphant in a competition that had no real favourites.

The 64th National Shooting Championships organised by the NRAI are being simultaneously held at New Delhi (Pistol), Bhopal (Rifle) and Patiala (Shotgun).

Women’s 25m Pistol

Maharashtra’s Rahi Sarnobat displayed her mastery over the finals stage of Women’s 25m Pistol by clinching gold with an impressive score of 37. Rahi was in the lead right from the get-go and was never really challenged in the match.

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Silver went to new Junior World Champion Naamya Kapoor of Delhi who scored 31 points while Haryana’s Manu Bhaker, fresh from her 10m AP win, finished 3rd.

In qualifications only Haryana’s Rhythm Sangwan (585) could better the Tokyo 2020 cut-off of 584-19x. Rhythm finished 4th in the finals. Manu was 3rd in qualifications with 581-26x while Rahi was 4th with 581-19x. Naamya shot 578-18x. The Nationals cut-off was 576-11x.

Olympic quota winner Chinki Yadav could not qualify for the finals; she finished 18th with 570-13x.

This result further solidified Rahi’s credentials in this event; she has finished on the podium in most international tournaments held this year even though she had a torrid time at the Olympics.

Junior

Naamya Kapoor clinched gold in the Junior event by beating Manu Bhaker 5-4 in a shoot-off after both were tied at 30. Telangana’s Esha Singh, the Junior and Youth Champion in 10m AP, finished 3rd here. Esha had scored 582 in the qualifications.

These results indicate improving depth in this event with Naamya, Rhythm and Esha being potential replacements for Rahi and Manu in the future.

Team

Haryana (Rhythm, Manu, Tejaswani) were the winners in the Team competition with a combined score of 1741-67x. Maharashtra (Rahi, Abhidnya Ashok Patil, Shivani Prashant Satav) finished 2nd with 1710-42x. Telangana (Esha, Divya Koorakula, Jabili Gangapatnam) were 3rd with 1688-43x.

The Haryana team’s score also helped them win the Junior Team title. Tamil Nadu (Niveditha Nair, Nithila Ivy Darling, Shree Sakthi Jayakannan) were 2nd with 1680-31x. Delhi (Naamya, Khushi Kapoor, Prarthana Khanna) were 3rd with 1678-45x.

Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions

Odisha’s Shriyanka Sadangi (454.9) won the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions title with the help of a solid standing round. 2nd-placed Mansi Kathait (453.5) of MP had a good standing series as well but it wasn’t enough to dislodge Shriyanka. Ayushi Podder of West Bengal was in the lead after the prone round but a 7.6 in standing led to her elimination in 3rd place.

Punjab’s Sift Kaur Samra (1171-57x) was the only shooter who came close to the Tokyo 2020 qualification mark of 1171-65x but finished 4th in the finals due to a poor kneeling round. Shriyanka (1167-68x) was 2nd in qualifications, Mansi (1163-55x) was 6th while Ayushi (1164-49x) was 5th. The cut-off was 1161-52x.

Anjum Moudgil, one of the top Indians in this event prior to Tokyo, just missed out with 1161-48x. On the other hand, Apurvi Chandela, known mostly as 10m AR shooter, qualified for the finals in 50m 3P with a score of 1167-46x but was eliminated 7th. This would be some consolation to her after a poor outing in Women’s 10m AR. Veteran shooter Anjali Bhagwat also finished in the top 10 with a score of 1159-58x.

Junior

Haryana’s Nischal won the Junior title with a new NSCC Junior Finals Record of 452.9. She finished well ahead of MP shooter Ashi Chouksey’s 450.9. Sift Kaur Samra won bronze.

Nischal and Ashi had scored 1159-57x and 1165-69x respectively in qualifications while overall topper Sift Kaur’s 1171-57x was a new NSCC Junior Qualification Record.

Team

Punjab (Sift Kaur, Anjum, Vanshika Shahi) won gold with a combined score of 3488-149x. The home team Madhya Pradesh (Mansi, Shrishti Mishra, Sunidhi Chauhan) were 2nd with 3472-151x and Railways (Meghana M. Sajjanar, Shreya Saksena, Ayonika Paul) completed the podium with 3447-120x.

MP (Ashi, Mansi, Bandhvi Singh) won the Junior Team title with a score of 3479-154x. Haryana (Nischal, Ramita, Nikita Kundu) were 2nd with 3448-135x. Punjab (Sift Kaur, Mahek Jatana, Gurnoor Kaur Beniwal) were 3rd with 3430-125x.