KSS Memorial Shooting Championship: Arpit Goel clinches gold on opening day

The opening day of the 18th KSS Memorial Shooting Championship on Wednesday saw national team shooter Arpit Goel of Delhi display his class to run away with the top honours in the 25M Rapid Fire Pistol (Senior) Men category on Wednesday.

Asserting his dominance from the start, Goel remained unchallenged as he finished with a score of 34 points. Five points behind him at 29, Shivam Shukla of the Air Force, who had topped the qualification rounds, bagged the silver while 2012 Olympic Silver medallist Vijay Kumar on a comeback trail scored a total of 24 points to finish with a bronze medal.

In the junior category, Adarsh Singh survived a heart-in-mouth moment as he clinched the gold with a difference of just one point, at the Karni Singh shooting range here.

In the team event, Vijay Kumar led from the front as he notched up a score of 579 for Haryana. His teammates, Adarsh Singh and Harpreet Singh looked in great touch as the team scored a cumulative score of 1723 to clinch the gold.

The Army Markman Unit, comprising of Gurmeet, Gurpreet Singh and Pemba Tamang, came close with a score of 1711 to seal the second spot at the podium. Asian Shooting Championship (Team) bronze medalist Akshay Ashtaputre failed to match previous performances here and along with his teammates Shivraj Sase and Vikrant Ghaisas, scored a cumulative 1700 for Maharashtra to settle for the bronze.

In the 25M Rapid Fire Pistol Junior category, Adarsh Singh who bagged the gold in the team event edged past Harshawardhan Yadav by a narrow margin of just one point to clinch his second gold in the prestigious tournament.

Languishing behind with 17 points, Mandeep Singh took the third spot on the podium.

The finals are scheduled for Thursday.