Anjum-Arjun win air rifle mixed title in shootings nationals

The Punjab pair shot a total of 497.9 in the 50-shot final, getting the better of Apurvi Chandela and Yash Vardhan of Rajasthan, who ended with 496.4.

Pooja Ghatkar and Shahu Mane of Maharashtra won bronze with a score of 433.9. This was Anjum's third gold of the nationals.

Anjum and Arjun qualified fifth out of five pairs that made it to the final from the total 24 teams that participated. Each team had to shoot 80 shots, 40 by each shooter, post which the final five pairs were identified.

Anjum and Arjun shot a total of 832.1, the latter shooting 415.3 while the former shot 416.8. The Karnataka pairing of Meghana Sajjanar and Tejas Krishna Prasad topped the charts with 835.1, thanks largely to a superlative 420.8 by Meghana. Akhil Sheoran and Ayushi Gupta were the other team who made it to the finals.

In the final, however, Anjum and Arjun were never seriously challenged and led from start to finish to easily quell the challenge of the Rajasthan and Maharashtra pair.

Maharashtra, however, managed to win the junior air rifle mixed team gold through the pair of Prachi Gadkari and Shahu Mane, who shot 493.9 in the final to finish ahead of Elavenil Valarivan and Harshrajsinhji Gohil of Gujarat, who shot 490.6 in the final.

The bronze went to Vanishka Rathore and Divyansh Panwar of Rajasthan with 429.4.

Combining with Nupur Patil, Shahu Mane, who has recently won a Youth Olympic Games quota place, helped Maharashtra to their second gold of the day by winning the youth 10m air rifle mixed team event. The pair shot 499.6 in the final to beat Zeena Khitta and Surya Pratap Singh (495.7) of Himachal Pradesh. Mehuli Ghosh and Archisman Chakraborti from West Bengal won the bronze with 430.9.