SHOOTING
Kiran Jadhav wins air rifle gold at Lakshya Cup shooting c’ship
Kiran Jadhav of Navy was in spectacular form over the last 12 shots that ranged between 10.4 and 10.8 to clinch the gold medal in the air rifle open event of the 15th Lakshya Cup shooting championship at the Kamala Sports Academy in Panvel on Sunday.
The 29-year-old Kiran, a trainee of the Lakshya Club from 2015, overtook the early leaders Gajanan Khandagale and Mohit Gowda for the gold.
“I have been in the finals every time since 2018. It is a special feeling, winning the gold for the first time. I believe in enjoying every moment of the sport and go with the flow,” said Kiran, who collected a cash prize of Rs.1,50,000.
READ | National Shooting Championship: Varun Tomar clinches double in men’s air pistol
The runner-up and bronze medallists were presented Rs.75,000 and Rs.40,000 respectively.
Olympic finalist and hot favourite, following his top qualification score of 634.8, Arjun Babuta slipped to the fourth spot.
Two other Olympians, Divyansh Singh Panwar and Sandeep Singh failed to make the final.
Himanshu and Shruti made it a 1-2 for Haryana in the junior final.
“I had missed out on selection for the Junior World Championship last year, when I finished fourth. This win gives me the confidence to fare better and make it to international competitions this year,” said the 19-year-old Himanshu.
The junior champion won Rs.75,000, while the second and third places fetched Rs.40,000 and Rs.20,000 respectively.
An initiative of Olympic finalist and Dronacharya awardee Suma Shirur, the Lakshya Cup has been a pioneer event for gender equality, and has helped a bunch of shooters over the years to step into the spotlight on the global stage.
The results:
10m air rifle: Open: 1. Kiran Jadhav 251.7 (630.9); 2. Gajanan Khandagale 250.9 (631.6); 3. Mohit Gowda 229.3 (630.5).
Juniors: 1. Himanshu 251.5 (632.1); 2. Shruti 250.4 (628.9); 3. Anvii Rathod 229.3 (630.4).
-Kamesh Srinivasan
BASKETBALL
National championship: Pranav Prince shines as Tamil Nadu beats Kerala
Pranav Prince top scored with 26 points as defending men’s champion Tamil Nadu warmed up with a 75-41 victory over Kerala in the first league match of the 74th National basketball championship at the Sidsar Sports Complex on Sunday.
The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Bhupendra Patel, inaugurated the championship.
The results (league):
Men: Group-A: Delhi 88 (Prince Tyagi 24, Sunil 13, Ayush Sharma 11) bt Rajasthan 72 (Sharad Dhadhich 16, Mohammad Ishan 15, Ashish Trivedi 14, Piyush Meena 12).
Tamil Nadu 75 (Pranav Prince 26, Aravind Muthukumar 14) bt Kerala 41 (Sejin Mathew 17).
Group-B: Railways 65 (Sahaj Pratap Singh 19, Princepal Singh 13, Sahil Kalyan 12) bt Karnataka 52 (Sumanth Satyanarayan 10, Pratyanshu Tomar 10).
Women: Group-A: Delhi 67 (Namrata 36) bt Karnataka 63 (Mohana Bala 16, G Chandana 14).
Railways 99 (Poonam Chaturvedi 18, Vaishnavi Yadav 16, Rashi Kotan 10) bt Madhya Pradesh 44 (G Priya 12, P Riya 11).
Group-B: Kerala 68 (VJ Jayalakshmi 13, Susan Florentina 12, Irin John12) bt Uttar Pradesh 43.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
