NRAI Joint Secretary General, Darius Chenai cliched the gold medal, while President Raninder Singh and former Trap World Champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu bagged the silver and bronze respectively in Men's Trap event of the 59th National Shooting Championship here today.
Office-bearers of the National federation, Darius Chenai and Raninder Singh squared off for the Men's Trap Shooting Gold medal match and it was the former who emerged victories at the JDA Shooting Range in Jaipur.
Darius, shooting for Telengana, had been the last man into the final with a qualification score of 116 after he won a shoot-off with Kismat Chopra of Delhi.
Raninder had qualified in third position with a score of 118. India internationals Prithviraj Tondaiman of Tamil Nadu and Zoravar Singh Sandhu (Air India) qualified in the top two positions shooting scores of 121 and 119 respectively. Trap ace Manavjit Sandhu shot 117 to qualify in fifth position.
In the semi-final stage, however, Darius and Raninder both shot 14 birds to tie for Gold medal bout.
Manavjit finished third with a score of 13 pairing up with Prithviraj Tondaiman for the bronze medal match up after the latter shot a score of 12.
Darius then shot 13 to Raninder's 11 in the Gold-medal match up to claim the title of National Men's Trap champion. Manavjit got the better off Tondaiman by 12 to 11 to claim Bronze.
The Junior Men's Trap gold was won by Vishwa Kundu of Haryana while Kismat Chopra won the silver and Adhiraj Singh Rathore of Rajasthan won the bronze.
Manavjit was not to be denied a gold medal, however, when he teamed up with veteran Mansher Singh and Vishvadev Singh Sidhu to clinch the Men's Trap Team Gold for Punjab. Darius led Telengana team to the silver while UP won the bronze.
"It is obviously a matter of great personal satisfaction that I managed to win a medal in the midst of a high quality field, but what has given me even more satisfaction is the high scores registered by juniors like Kismat Chopra and Manaviditya Singh Rathore," Raninder Singh said.
"In fact, I am told that five of the top 12 scores eligible for India selection have been registered by juniors and that is the biggest takeaway from the Men's Trap for me. I also congratulate Darius on a terrific performance. Both our scores are however not eligible for India selection and the next two best performances will count.
Also present on the occasion were Olympic
bronze-medallist Gagan Narang, Olympians Jeetu Rai, Heena Sidhu and Kynan Chenai, who will be spearheading the Indian challenge.
As discussions shifted to the Abhinav Bindra-led panel's recommendations of reforms, Raninder said that the suggestions have been implemented to a large extent, 95 percent to be precise, in his own words.
He said that another committee will soon be formed to assess the implementation of the panel's recommendations. The panel was constituted to probe Indian shooters' dismal show at the Rio Olympics, where they could not win any medal.
He said the team for the year's first three World Cups has been picked on merit and the NRAI had tried to strike a balanced approach.
All the Indian shooters present exuded confidence ahead of the World's top shooting competition and asserted that while it was a great feeling playing a World Cup at home, the pressure of expectations would play a role.
A world-class field has already started assembling in the capital for the season's first World Cup, the complete cycle for which also ends in India this year with the World Cup Finals, slated at the same venue in October.
Among the world's top shooters present will be the likes of Diana Bacosi, Gabriele Rosetti, Hoang Xuan Vinh, Mengxue Zhang, Felipe Almeida Wu, Kimberly Rhodes and double Dakar rally champion and Olympic bronze-medallist Nasser Al-Attaiya.
Despite a world class field, Raninder was optimistic of India pulling off a decent show, pointing out that the fresh faces in the team are capable of reaching the finals and even finishing on the podium.
