Kumar Surendra Singh Championship: Harveen denies Esha gold

It was a welcome return to form for the World University Games champion Harveen, as she scored 240.4, beating Esha to the gold by 1.5 points.

Harveen Srao and Esha Singh who won all the air pistol medals between them in the Kumar Surendra Singh shooting championships in New Delhi on Wednesday.

It required a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) from Punjab, Harveen Srao, to check the gold hunt of Esha Singh, who went on to win the junior and youth gold medals, after losing the women’s title in the 19th Kumar Surendra Singh Shooting championship at the Dr. Karni
Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Wednesday.

It was a welcome return to form for the World University Games champion Harveen, as she scored 240.4, beating Esha to the gold by 1.5 points. A string of 9s and the odd 8 had punctured Esha's hopes, especially after she had 9.5 when Harveen shot 10.8 just before
the duel for gold.

Harveen did fire 8.8 on the penultimate shot, to let Esha bridge the gap, but wound up majestically with a 10.5 even before Esha fired her 10.3, to secure the gold.

Both the shooters had 569 in qualification which may not serve much purpose in terms of securing them a berth in the national squad, behind the likes of Manu Bhaker and Heena Sidhu.

Ruchita Vinerkar who topped qualification with 575, settled for the bronze, and helped Railways to the team gold.

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P. Shri Nivetha was tied with 197.2 with Ruchita, but lost the tie-shoot and finished fourth. Chinki Yadav, Sneha Bhardwaj, Mahima Turhi Agrawal and Neeraj Kaur were the others to make the final.

In the junior section, Esha shot 238.5 to beat Yuvika Tomar by 2.4 points for the gold, as Sneha Bhardwaj climbed to the bronze. In the youth section, Esha was at her best, with 241.4 and beat Sneha by 4.7 points.

It was nothing new for Esha, who had swept the women’s, junior and youth gold medals in the last national championship.

In men’s rapid fire pistol, Anhad Jawanda beat Bhavesh Shekhawat (585), the qualification topper, 28-26 for the gold, after the two were tied before the last series. Adarsh Singh placed third ahead of Neeraj Kumar, Japtyesh Singh Jaspal and Arpit Goel.