Bhopal: The Navy’s Kiran Ankush Jadhav, overcame the challenge emanating from two Olympians, among them Paris Olympic bronze medallist Swapnil Kusale representing the Railways, to clinch the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) title in the National Shooting Championships here at the M.P. State Academy Shooting range here on Wednesday.
The navy man shot 465.8 in the final to leave double-Olympian Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar of the home state in second place on a score of 463.1. Kusale, after leading the 45-shot final till the 40th shot, bowed out in third ahead of the final gold-deciding shot, with a tally of 451.8.
Earlier, the railwayman had topped the qualification with a world-class score of 593, leaving Aishwary a point behind in second in that match. Kiran had qualified fourth with a solid 590.
However, both the gold and silver medallists pulled out the big shots when it mattered most, to finish ahead of Kusale, who after leading at every stage of the final could not seem to hit the 10-ring after his 40th. His last four shots in the final Standing position read 9.2, 9.4, 8.9, and 9.5, putting paid to title hopes.
Jadhav, meanwhile, remained in third place in the final till the same 40-shot stage, before finishing with a series of 10.6, 10.4, 10.6, 10.0, and 10.8 to strike gold. Home favourite Tomar’s 41st shot for a 9.9 meant he could not take advantage of Swapnil’s slip, holding on to the second spot.
In the junior final, West Bengal’s Adriyan Karmakar triumphed over Madhya Pradesh’s Kushagra Singh Rajawat comfortably with a score of 462.0, a full four points ahead of the local boy. Rajasthan’s Deependra Singh Shekhawat was third with a score of 445.6. Adriyan had qualified third for the final with a score of 586 while Haryana’s Rohit Kanyan, who made both the finals, was on top of the qualification pile with a score of 587.
