Intershoot International Championship: Hat-trick of gold for Sandeep Singh

Sandeep shot 249.7 in the final, on the third and final day of competition, to beat compatriot and Asian Games silver medallist Deepak Kumar by 1.2 points, after both had shot 627.5 in qualification.

Sandeep had dominated the finals on the earlier two days with scores of 251.5 and 251.7.

It was a hat-trick of gold medals for Sandeep Singh of the army as he swept the honours in men’s air rifle in the InterShoot international shooting championship at the Hague in the Netherlands. Sandeep shot 249.7 in the final, on the third and final day of competition, to beat compatriot and Asian Games silver medallist Deepak Kumar by 1.2 points, after both had shot 627.5 in qualification.

Sandeep had dominated the finals on the earlier two days with scores of 251.5 and 251.7. He was equally consistent in qualification, if not spectacular like the way Mehuli Ghosh did with high scores ranging up to 633.0.

READ: Anantjeet pips Olympian Mairaj in shotgun selection trials In women’s air rifle, Mehuli’s superlative show was checked by Mandy Mulder of the Netherlands, as the Dutch won the gold by beating the Commonwealth Games silver medallist by 0.8 point. Mehuli had shot two gold medals on the earlier two days. World University champion Vinita Bhardwaj wound up her European sojourn with the bronze behind Mehuli, after having competed with a lot of success in Germany. Olympian Ayonika Paul also made her third successive final, even though she had to bow out in the sixth place. Overall, the three days of competition in Den Haag proved an encouraging outing for the strong Indian contingent, and would serve as a good preparation for some of the shooters who will be competing in the World Cup in Delhi later in the month. The results:

Men: Air pistol: 1. Julio Almeida (Bra) 242.0 (580); 2. Dharmendra Singh 241.2 (576); 3. Ravinder Singh 220.3 (575); 6. Om Prakash Mitharwal 157.6 (585); 8. Shahzar Rizvi 114.8 (588); 11. Ronak Pandit 574; 12. Jitu Rai 573. Junior men: 1. Jerome Son (Bel) 240.3 (568); 2. James Miller (Wal) 235.8 (574); 3. Deepak Dhariwal 214.2 (560); 5. Milan Chaudhary 174.0 (560). Air rifle: 1. Sandeep Singh 249.7 (627.5); 2. Deepak Kumar 248.5 (627.5); 3. Benjamin Karlsen (Nor) 227.5 (622.4); 6. Saurabh Singh 165.1 (622.0); 7. Vishwajeet Singh Jhala 143.3 (622.6); 8. Pankaj Kumar 121.9 (621.4); 9. Rahul Lal Chauhan 618.4. Junior men: 1. Jon-Hermann Hegg (Nor) 246.7 (620.4); 2. Aleksander Teisrud (Nor) 245.8 (624.9); 3. Jeff Van Venrooij (Ned) 223.9; 5. Akshat Seth 179.5 (617.0); 12. Dharya Goyal 594.6.

Women:Air pistol: 1. Zhang Mengxue (Chn) 241.0 (579); 2. Ji Xiaojing (Chn) 240.9 (570); 3. P Shri Nivetha 216.1 (583); 16. Gauri Sheoran 550. Junior women: 1. Karen Quezada (Mex) 240.8 (563); 2. Harriet Watson (Eng) 229.1 (531); 3. Lucy Thomas (Wal) 207.5 (536); 5. Mufaddal Deesawala 167.9 (550). Air rifle: 1. Mandy Mulder (Ned) 250.9 (628.7); 2. Mehuli Ghosh 250.1 (627.6); 3. Vinita Bhardwaj 227.8 (624.5); 6. Ayonika Paul 164.0 (625.8); 22. Rajshree Sancheti 616.8.