Yash Vardhan Singh among top three in finals in National Shooting selection trials

Yash Vardhan Singh topped qualification in air rifle with 629.2 across men’s, junior men’s and youth categories and went on to be among the top three in finals in the National Shooting selection trials.

Yash Vardhan had a dominant performance in air rifle in the National shooting trials in Delhi.

It was both an eventful and fruitful day for 15-year-old Yash Vardhan Singh as he topped qualification in air rifle with 629.2 across men’s, junior men’s and youth categories and went on to be among the top three in finals in the National Shooting selection trials, held concurrently with the Kumar Surendra Singh shooting championship at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Thursday.

It required a shooter of the calibre of Ravi Kumar, a regular in the national team, who had won the Asian Games mixed team bronze with Apurvi Chandela, to beat Yash Vardhan in the men’s final, which he did by half a point, in a brilliant climax.

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In the junior section, World junior champion Hriday Hazarika and Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar pushed Yash Vardhan to the third place. The young boy, however, revealed considerable reserves of energy, both physical and mental, in having a golden climax for the day, as he topped the youth event with a commendable 252.4, and more importantly beating a strong challenge from Dhanush Srikanth by 0.1 point, as both delivered a 10.7 on the last shot.

It may be noted that the women’s world record, which is better than the junior men’s world record of 252.3, the best for all men, is held by Apurvi Chandela at 252.9. That should provide a hint about the quality of shooting of Yash Vardhan, and of course, Dhanush and Hriday.

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Meanwhile, in the non-Olympic 50-metre free pistol, which was part of the Kumar Surendra Singh championship, World junior champion Arjun Singh Cheema won both the men’s and junior gold with a score of 559.

In the men’s centre fire pistol, Mandeep Singh, Adarsh Singh and Olympian Gurpreet Singh shot 585, and swept the medals, with the tie being broken on the count back. Anish Bhanwala and Anhad Jawanda missed out with scores of 582.

 

The results:

 

10m air rifle:

Men: 1. Ravi Kumar 251.6 (628.0); 2. Yash Vardhan 251.1 (629.2); 3. Sandeep Singh 227.9 (627.4).

Junior men: 1. Hriday Hazarika 252.2 (626.1); 2. Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar 250.3 (625.3); 3. Yash Vardhan 228.4 (629.2).

Youth men: 1. Yash Vardhan 252.4 (629.2); 2. Dhanush Srikanth 252.3 (623.7); 3. TR Srijay 229 (625.1).

 

25m centre fire pistol:

Men : 1. Mandeep Singh 585; 2. Adarsh Singh 55; 3. Gurpreet Singh 585.

 

50m free pistol:

Men : 1. Arjun Singh Cheema 559; 2. Amanpreet Singh 558; 3. Sib Kumar Ghosh 557.

Junior men : 1. Arjun Singh Cheema 559; 2. Vikash Kumar 548; 3. Surinder Singh 540.