Anjum Moudgil is ever so relaxed. Even when she is on the firing lane, there is a certain calmness. Yet, she can conjure up an unmatched intensity to emerge a champion, with her smile intact.
The World Championship silver medallist, the first to win the Olympic quota for shooting in the current cycle for Tokyo, Anjum shot better than the world record to beat Mehuli Ghosh by 1.7 point for the gold in women’s air rifle in the 12th Sardar Sajjan Singh Sethi Masters shooting championship at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Monday.
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In the absence of the world No.1 and the world record holder Apurvi Chandela (252.9), who has won two gold medals in World Cups this season, and in the absence of the Junior World Cup gold medallist Elavenil Valarivan who had failed to make the cut for the Masters in the women’s event, it was literally a two-horse race.
Shriyanka Sadangi did stir up interest before settling for the bronze.
After shooting the third best score in qualification, 0.3 point behind Mehuli, Anjum was a class act in the gripping final. With five shots to go, Anjum had an 1.2 point lead over Mehuli. Then, she produced 10.7, 10.9, 10.8, 10.5 and 10.7 even as Mehuli did not flinch, and shot close to her bes.
Mehuli’s last seven shots were 10.5, 10.6, 10.6, 10.8, 10.6, 10.8 and 10.5, as she was just 0.1 short of the the men’s world record of 252.3.
Interestingly, both the shooters had 10 points with all their 24 shots in the final.
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Quite characteristically, Mehuli responded to the situation by winning the junior gold, 0.6 point ahead of Elavenil, by shooting 253.0. This time, both the shooters were brilliant and Mehuli handled the climax better, after Elavenil had led by 0.1 point before the last four shots.
Zeena Khitta who placed fourth in women’s and third in junior events, shot the gold in the youth section ahead of Kashika Pradhan and Vidisha Saxena.
In men’s air rifle, Ravi Kumar of Air Force was back to his best form as he beat Kiran Jadhav of Navy by 1.1 point for the gold while Asian Games silver medallist Deepak Kumar had to settle for the bronze, after having led the final for the most part. Qualification topper Sahil (629.9) finished fifth.
It was once again a strong field for the men’s event, with Yash Vardhan, Aishwarya Pratap Singh and Arjun Babuta, in the fray, making light of the absence of Divyansh Panwar, the one who has won the Olympic quota in the event.
With the National championship rank being the basis for invitation, Divyansh missed out of the men’s event.
Divyansh did compete among the juniors, in which Harshit Binjwa beat Dhanush Srikanth by 0.4 point for the gold. Divyansh was fifth, as Surya Pratap Singh who had enjoyed the lead midway through the final, took the bronze ahead of Yash Vardhan.
It was a happy ending for Yash Vardhan, as he won the youth gold, by beating Aishwarya Pratap Tomar by 1.1 point, even as Divyansh opted to skip the final.
In the junior men’s sports pistol, World Champion Udhayveer Sidhu prevailed with a score of 583.
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