National Selection Trials: Rajasthan's Yash Vardhan tops men's, youth air rifle

The 16-year-old Yash, who had missed qualifying for the final in the last World Cup in Rio de Janeiro by 0.2 points, beat Sandeep Singh of Army by 0.3 points. He delivered a 10.7 last shot to clinch the issue.

Rajasthan's Yash Vardhan delivered a 10.7 off the last shot to clinch the issue.

Young Yash Vardhan of Rajasthan revealed his competitive excellence in the finals as he topped the men’s and youth events in air rifle, in the seventh National shooting selection trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughalakabad, on Sunday.

The 16-year-old Yash, who had missed qualifying for the final in the last World Cup in Rio de Janeiro by 0.2 points, beat Sandeep Singh of Army by 0.3 points. He delivered a 10.7 last shot to clinch the issue.

Sandeep Singh had done well to top qualification with 630.6 which will play a significant role in enhancing the averages for national team selection.

Pankaj Kumar shot 630.2 in qualification and placed third, ahead of Asian Games silver medallist Deepak Kumar who had missed the Olympic quota in Rio but had won the mixed air rifle gold with Apurvi Chandela.

Dhanush Srikanth who had dominated the sixth trials, was sixth in the men’s event, after a modest qualification score of 627.3, which put him in the final ahead of Olympian Chain Singh, Olympic quota winner Divyansh Singh Panwar and the experienced Ravi Kumar.

Divyansh made the junior final and clinched the top spot by beating Dhanush Srikanth by 1.6 points. Srinjoy Datta who topped qualification with 629.4, placed third. Yash Vardhan was placed sixth in the juniors.

READ: National Selection Trials: Dhanush Srikanth shines in air rifle

It was a commendable fare by Yash Vardhan as he came back strong in the third final of the day, and topped the youth final with 250.7. He beat Dhanush Srikanth by 0.4 points. Divyansh Singh Panwar opted out of the final.

Arjun Singh Cheema continued to dominate the 50-metre free pistol event, as he topped the men’s and junior lists with 564, two points better than his effort on Saturday.

World Championship silver medallist, Asian Games gold medallist and Olympic finalist Jitu Rai improved to the fourth place with a score of 555, in the non-Olympic event.

Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu topped the junior men’s sports pistol with 586, one point ahead of the junior World Champion Udhayveer Sidhu.