Pune shooter Shruti Bhattepatil triumphed in women’s 10m air rifle event; Om Prakash tops podium in 50m pistol event.
Pune’s Shruti Bhattepatil stunned seasoned shooters like Suma Shirur, Avneet Sidhu and Anjali Bagwat to win the gold in the women’s 10m air rifle event of the 55th National shooting championship at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in Balewadi on Wednesday.
Shruti, who had scored 395, along with Anjali (395) and Suma (395), was behind Mampi Das (396) and Avneet (396) in the qualification round. But the local girl impressed in the final round scoring 104.4, which included eight 10 pointers. Shruti scored 10.6, 9.7, 10.7, 10.8, 10.7, 9.9, 10.6, 10.8, 10.3 and 10.3 to clinch gold with a total score of 499.4. Mampi scored 103.2 with a total of 499.2 to clinch silver, while Anjali totalled 498.4 to finish third.
“There was a pressure on me to perform with some seniors like Anjali and Suma, but I kept the pressure aside and tried to do my best. I told myself that I am not participating against Olympian Anjali, but with a shooter. This thought charged me up and I could give my best,” said the 18-year-old shooter, who trains at Gun For Glory academy in Balewadi. Incidentally, Shurti also trains under Anjali and seeks advice from her regularly.
Army’s shooters dominated the 50m pistol event, as the gold and silver went to the armymen in the National Shooting Championship.
The podium was topped by Om Prakash, who shot 563 in the qualification round and then 98.4 in the finals to take his score to 661.4. The shooter had sufficient lead in the qualification round as well as in the final, as second to him was army’s Vijay Singh, who scored 558 and 89.0 in the qualifications and final respectively.
The bronze went to ONGC’s Amanpreet Singh, who came from behind to grab the third spot.
Om Prakash was, however, not satisfied. “My target was to score 570 in the qualification round, but I missed my target by seven points,” said the shooter. The armyman is now aiming to do well at the Asian Shooting Championship, which will be held in Qatar in January. “If I shoot the way I am shooting now, I am sure of winning a medal there,” he added.
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