Shooting Nationals: Imran pips Gagan to air rifle gold medal

A determined Imran Hasan Khan made a strong statement as he beat World Championship and Olympic medallist Gagan Narang to the men’s air rifle gold in the 59th National shooting championship at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Saturday.

Published : Dec 12, 2015 20:28 IST , New Delhi

Imran Hasan Khan bagged his second National Championship gold medal.
Imran Hasan Khan bagged his second National Championship gold medal.
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Imran Hasan Khan bagged his second National Championship gold medal.

A determined Imran Hasan Khan made a strong statement as he beat World Championship and Olympic medallist Gagan Narang to the men’s air rifle gold in the 59th National shooting championship at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Saturday.

It was an excellent performance by the 32-year-old Army shooter, as Imran tallied 207.6 points over 20 shots in a lively atmosphere that had a strong crowd whistling to the beats of “dhol” specially arranged for a dramatic climax. He beat Gagan, who is slowly getting his grip over air rifle, with a 4.1 point margin.

The other Olympic quota holder Chain Singh was pushed to the bronze medal, after he lost the shoot-off with Gagan 9.8 to 10.2 when the two tied on 183.7 points after 18 shots.

Having been left out of the Asian Olympic qualifying event to be held at the same venue in January, Imran was obviously hurt and upset. He was keen to establish his credentials yet again and did so in style with his second National championship gold.

The qualification topper, World and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra stuck to his decision to skip the final, owing to prior commitments. Imran had qualified in the second place 2.7 point behind Bindra, with a total of 624.2, and he was a class act in the final.

Anam clinches gold medal in Shotgun Nationals

Anam Basit beat former champion Shreyasi Singh 11-9 for the women’s trap gold in the 59th National shotgun championship in Jaipur on Saturday.

A junior bronze medallist in the last edition of the national championship in Patiala, the 21-year-old Anam qualified in the sixth place with a score of 61. She was on par with Shreyasi with 13 in the semi-finals, before asserting her growing confidence in the gold contest.

From the time when she placed 16th in the World Championship among the juniors in Lima in 2013, with a score of 51, Anam has taken big strides.

Rajeshwari Kumari, one of the members of the national team with Shreyasi and Shagun Chowdhary won the bronze ahead of National Games gold medallist and World Cup silver medallist Seema Tomar.

In women’s skeet, the seasoned champion Arti Singh turned the table on defending champion Rashmee Rathore with a 4-3 score in the shoot-off after the two tied on11 in the gold match. Rashmee had beaten Arti in the shoot-off for the gold in the last edition, and had won the National Games gold as well in Kerala.

Shooting Results

Men -10m air rifle: 1. Imran Hasan Khan 207.6 (624.2); 2. Gagan Narang 203.6 (620.0); 3. Chain Singh 183.7 (623.8).

Juniors - 1. Manpreet Singh 621.0; 2. Milan Preet Singh 619.5; 3. Lokender 618.7.

Youth - 1. Lokender 618.7; 2. Paarth Makhija 616.7; 3. Vinayakumar Shashikant Patil 614.8.

Shotgun Results

Women - Trap: 1. Anam Basit 11 (13) 61; 2. Shreyasi Singh 9 (13) 66; 3. Rajeshwari Kumari 12 (9)2 (68); 4. Seema Tomar 10 (10) 65; 5. Shikha Bhaduria 9(1) 63; 6. Shagun chowdhary 8 (67).

Juniors: 1. Manisha Keer 11 (10) 60; 2. Pragati Dubey 9 (10) 63; 3. N. Nivetha 10 (9) 56; 4. Sajneet Kaur Rehal 9 (9) 56; 5. Kirti Gupta 7 (57); 6. Soumya Gupta 7 (60).

Skeet: 1. Arti Singh 11(4) 11 (62); 2. Rashmee Rathore 11(3) 12 (64); 3. Saniya Sheikh 14 (10) 66; 4. Shreya Chowdhary 9 (9)3 (63); 5. Areeba Khan 9(2) 58; 6. Maheshwari Chauhan 9(1) 63.

Juniors: 1. Maheshwari Chauhan 11 (8)3 (63); 2. Asees Chhina 6 (9) 53; 3. Areeba Khan 9 (8)1 (58); 4. Pooja Vishwakarma 6 (5) 50; 5. Simranpreet Johal 4 (47); 6. Sarveshwari Kumari 2 (47).

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