Pune: Beijing Olympic Games gold medallist Abhinav Bindra pipped Commonwealth Games champion Gagan Narang for the 10m air rifle gold at the 55th National Shooting Championship in Pune on Friday.
Bindra shot a qualification score of 596 (100,99,98,99,100,100) and followed it up with 104.2 to register a total score of a 700.2 to bag the gold medal, while the Hyderabad-based Narang, representing Air India, secured the silver with a score of 696.6 (595+101.6) ahead of bronze winner Chain Singh of the Army who shot 695.7 (594+101.7).
Bindra set the tone in the final with two 10.8 scores in the first two attempts, produced 10.6 in the fifth and showed his form and consistency on the 10th and final shot (10.7). Bindra left the arena quickly after being crowned champion to catch a flight to Germany, giving the champion of champions event a miss.
Gagan's best was 10.7 in the ninth and got eight 10-plus scores. Navy's P T Raghunath hit bulls-eye in all 10 shots, rising from sixth (591) in the qualifiers to a close fourth.
Sanjeev Rajput of Navy, who has already qualified for next year's London Olympics in the 50m rifle 3-position, finished fifth with a score of 694.3.
Rajkumari wins gold
There was a big surprise in the 50m rifle 3-position event when MP's Rajkumari upstaged world prone champion Tejaswini Sawant of Maharashtra and Lajja Gauswami of Gujarat for the gold.
Rajkumari totalled 676.0 to clinch the title ahead of Tejaswini (673.9) and Lajja (673.2).
Gagan is Champion of Champions
Later, before a packed audience, Narang won a shootout with C. Rekha to be crowned ‘Champion of Champions' in air rifle. Eight shooters (men and women) comprised the field and the first Indian to win an Olympic quota for London 2012 showed steely nerves to finish 0.3 points ahead of Rekha in the three-shot tie-breaker (30.6 against 30.3 respectively).
Even as the eight elite air rifle shooters lined up for the showpiece event, the range was in complete darkness for a few minutes due to power failure. indianshooting.com
The results:
Men's 10m Air Rifle: 1. Abhinav Bindra (Pun) (596, 104.2) 700.2; 2. Gagan Narang (Air India) (595, 101.6 ) 696.6; 3. Chain Singh (Army) (594, 101.7) 695.7; 4. P T Raghunath (Navy) (591, 103.4) 695.4; 5. Sanjeev Rajput (Navy) (593, 101.3) 694.3; 6. Navnath Fartade (Mah) (592, 100.8) 692.8; 7. Ashish Gautam (Del) (592, 96.8) 688.8; 8. Ashok Karande (Mah) (590, 98.3) 688.3.
Women's 50m Rifle 3-Position: Rajkumar (MP) 676.0 (578+98); 2. Tejeaswini Sawant (Mah) 673.9 (571+102.9); 3. Lajja Gauswami (Guj) 673.2 (576+97.2).
Courtesy: www.indianshooting.com
