Bhavtegh, Ganemat win skeet gold in shooting Nationals

Bhavtegh Singh Gill saw off Air India’s Fatehbir Singh Shergill to win his maiden national title in skeet.

On a foggy morning, the Chandigarh lad shot down 54 clay birds to Fatehbir’s 51 hits to win the senior gold medal of the National Shooting Competition at the Karni Singh Shooting Range on Tuesday. Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan bagged the bronze with 43 hits.

Gill, a BTech final year student, said that the weather did not affect his shooting as they had been training in Patiala prior to the Nationals. “Fatebir, I and few others trained in Patiala and conditions were pretty similar to what we saw today,” the 21-year-old told The Tribune.

“I started by breaking the first 10 targets and then dropped a few. Others around me dropped as well but then I broke the next 19 out of the 20 targets and it became easier. I would not say that the final score of 54 was great but it was good for me today,” he added.

Earlier, Punjab’s Fatehbir topped the qualifications with a total of 123 over five rounds. Munek Battula too tallied a similar score to qualify for the final. Mairaj and Angad Vir Singh Bajwa also made the cut for the final.

In the women’s category, Punjab’s Ganemat Sekhon showed why she is so highly rated as she won her second successive national gold medal. Ganemat broke 50 out of the 60 targets to comfortably win the gold medal. Her state-mate Asees Chhina had to settle for silver after bringing down 46 targets. Olympian Raiza Dhillon, who topped the qualifying with a record equalling national record score of 122, won the bronze medal.

In Bhopal, Karthik Sabari Raj and Narmada Nithin of Tamil Nadu dominated the 10m air rifle mixed team competition, winning it 16-6 against the Railways duo of Arjun Babuta and Sonam Uttam Maskar. Madhya Pradesh’s Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Gautami Bhanot won bronze.

Ishan and Raiza win junior skeet titles

In the junior men’s skeet final, Ishan Singh Libra of Haryana, won a thriller, edging out Bhavtegh Singh Gill 6-5 in a shoot-off after both had tied on 52-hits. The final gold of the day and Haryana’s second, was won by Raiza Dhillon, after she eased to victory in the junior women’s skeet final. Her tally of 53 was too good for second placed Vanshika Tiwari of Madhya Pradesh, who managed 47. Yashasvi Rathore of Rajasthan won bronze.