Sharma, Bharmale sign off with golden hauls

MUMBAI: Rajesh Sharma and Milind Bharmale signed off the 10th Captain Ezekiel Memorial state shooting championship on a golden note, taking home the top honours in the men’s free pistol and air pistol at the Maharashtra Rifle Association’s shooting range on Sunday.

The Sangli shooter, Milind, was way ahead from his two closest rivals as he romped home ten points ahead of Asif Shaikh.

Local shooter Rajesh Sharma got the better of  his teammate Anil Raskar to finish second. Jangaon’s Bhushan Agarni secured third place.

In an all-Pune match-up in the junior air pistol, Dhanurdhar Thakkur (340 points) pipped his teammate Prashant Gulave (338) by two points. Nitesh Tiwari finsihed third with 341 points. It was an all-Mumbai affair in the P 100 protection model pistol with Sandeep Ghandat (140), Amitabh Shukla (99) and Purshottam Redekar (88) taking top honours.

Later in the day, all the medal winners (Maharashtra) at the Melbourne Commonwealth games were felicitated by the Maharashtra deputy chief minister RR Patil. The minister also promised Rs 5 lakh for the Maharashtra Rifle Association.