Proving Haryana's sports talent; Manu and Anish win gold medals at National Shooting Championships

Bhopal, December 25: Both being in irrepressible form, Commonwealth Games champions Manu Bhaker and Anish Bhanwala clinched gold medals at the 63rd National Shooting Championships in Bhopal yesterday. This is the first time when the 63rd National Shooting competition is being organised at Madhya Pradesh. 

 

 

The 17-year-old Bhaker, representing Haryana, clinched four gold medals (individual and team events in senior and junior) in the women's 10 meter air pistol. She shot 243 to emerge triumphant in the eight-woman final. She then shot 588 to top qualifications and equal the record set by Annu Raj Singh in the South Asian Games. Manu beat Devanshi Dhama by 5.2 points for the women’s gold, while the other Olympic quota winner Yashaswini Singh Deswal took the bronze. In the junior section, Manu beat Sharvari Bhoir 2.1 point for the gold, while Devanshi Dhama won the bronze. 

Manu’s state-mate Anish, also 17, won individual gold medal in the senior men's 25 meter rapid fire pistol event to stamp his dominance. Bhanwala shot 28 in the rapid fire final to leave behind Bhavesh Shekhawat of Rajasthan who ended with 26 while Chandigarh's Vijayveer Sidhu came third with 22 hits.

 

 

 

Shweta Singh, Annu Raj Singh, Harveen Srao, Ruchita Vinerkar and Rahi Sarnobat were the others to make the women’s final. Devanshi Dhama bagged the silver in the senior women's 10 meter air pistol event while Yashaswini Singh Deshwal won the bronze medal in the same event.  

Manu Bhaker and Yashaswini have already secured quotas for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. History is in the making as a record number of 7,760 shooters from across the country has thronged to participate in the nationals. It is a positive sign that shooting, as a sport, has grown leaps and bound in the country as so many shooters were able to qualify for the nationals despite having strict qualifying mark. India has already seen 15 shooters earning qualification at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the highest ever from the country.