Vijay Kumar and Heena Sidhu assert their class NEW DELHI, SEPT. 2: Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar and air pistol ace Heena Sidhu asserted their undisputed class in overwhelming a competitive field in the 10th Sardar Sajjan Singh Sethi Masters shooting championship at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, here on Monday. While Vijay Kumar won the rapid fire pistol gold, even before Gurpreet Singh, the man who had beaten him by one point in the last competition at the same venue could take in his last series, with an unbeatable total of 31 following a perfect five in the climax, Heena Sidhu beat Albha Oberoi by 2.2 points. In a lively contest at the 25-metre range, in which the seasoned Pemba Tamang failed to make the rapid fire pistol final by two points, Vijay Kumar started strongly and strengthened his stranglehold as the final progressed over eight series of five shots in the exacting 4-second series. The Subedar Major of Army, Vijay had topped the qualifiers with a total of 578 following identical series of 289 in the two stages. With the six finalists starting on nought, it was anybody’s match, and Vijay shot four or five consistently in six of the eight series, to leave the likes of Gurpreet Singh, Harpreet Singh and Rahul Panwar gasping for breath. In fact, Rahul led on seven after two series, but faded away thereafter as his good work was brought down by a third series nought. ‘’I had no chance’’, said an exasperated Gurpreet, while Vijay said that he was pleased with the way he shot the whole day, and ended with a perfect five. Harpreet Singh conceded that Vijay was ‘’tough to beat at home’’. Heena Sidhu, who has been brilliant in the four World Cups this season, was a class apart as she qualified with a score of 387, seven points ahead of Shreya Gawande and 10 ahead of Albha Oberoi who eventually took the bronze and silver medals respectively. It was to the credit of Albha, who had won the gold in Kumar Surendra Singh Championship recently at the same venue, that she bridged the gap to 0.6 point at one stage and 0.8 point after 18 shots. However, Heena nonchalantly shot 10.5 and 10.0 on the last two shots to enhance the margin by a further 1.4 points. Heena’s husband and coach Ronak Pandit observed that specialised training for tackling the finals would start soon, even as Heena pursues her master’s degree in dentistry. Anisa Sayyed finished fourth ahead of Surabhi Pathak, Sarvesh Tomar and Harveen Srao. While Shweta Chaudhary finished eighth, the other leading specialists, Olympian Annu Raj Singh (370), Sonia Rai and Sushma Singh failed to make the final. In women’s 50-metre rifle prone event, Lajja Gauswami edged out the air rifle gold medallist Anjum Moudgil, 30-26 on better number of inner-10s, after the two tied on 588. Meena Kumari took the bronze one point behind, while World champion Tejaswini Sawant and Kuheli Gangulee missed a medal by three points, and the latest Arjuna awardee, Rajkumari Rathore (579) was eighth. The results: Men: 25m rapid fire pistol: 1. Vijay Kumar 31 (578); 2. Gurpreet Singh 27 (570); 3. Harpreet Singh 18 (576). Women: 10m air pistol: 1. Heena Sidhu 200.8 (387); 2. Albha Oberoi 198.6 (377); 3. Shreya Gawande 174.1 (380). Juniors: 1. Shreya Gawande 380; 2. Ruchi Singh 375; 3. Prerna Gupta 373. Youth: 1. Gauri 375; 2. Nayani Bhardwaj 370; 3. Disha Langan 361. 50m rifle prone: 1. Lajja Gauswami 588 (30x); 2. Anjum Moudgil 588 (26x); 3. Meena Kumari 587. Juniors: 1. Anjum Moudgil 588; 2. Elizabeth Susan Koshy 583; 3. Sandhya W 581.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Sep 2013 23:14:05 +0000
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