New Delhi/Bhopal: World Championship silver medallist Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar delivered a landmark performance at the 68th Shooting Nationals on Tuesday, firing a world record 470.5 to clinch gold in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final at the Madhya Pradesh State Shooting Range. Aishwary’s score is 1.6 points more than the current world record.
In simultaneous shotgun action at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in Delhi, Gurjoat Singh produced a composed display to win the skeet men’s gold with 55 hits, narrowly defeating nine-time national champion Mairaj Ahmad Khan, who finished second with 54 hits.
Aishwary was clinical from the start, equalling his own national record of 597, which he had first achieved at the recently concluded ISSF World Cup Final in Doha, to finish on top of the qualification.
Navy shooter Niraj Kumar secured the silver with 463.7, and Uttar Pradesh’s Akhil Sheoran completed the podium with 451.8.
Defending national champion Kiran Ankush Jadhav finished fourth with 440.0, followed by Paris Olympic bronze medallist Swapnil Suresh Kusale with 429.7, and his teammate Arjun Babuta in sixth with 414.9.
Monu Kumar with 403.2, and Manvendra Singh Shekhawat with 401.6 completed the final line up. Earlier in qualification, Swapnil Kusale (594-33x) finished behind Aishwary followed by Arjun Babuta (594-32x), with Manvendra Singh Shekhawat (591-31x) in fourth position. Akhil Sheoran and Niraj Kumar both shot 589, finishing fifth and sixth on inner 10s, while Monu Kumar (589-28x) was placed seventh and Kiran Ankush Jadhav (588-32x) secured the final qualification spot in eighth.
Gurjoat Singh claimed the gold medal in the men’s skeet final with 55 hits, edging out Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan, who settled for silver with 54 hits at New Delhi.
This was Mairaj’s 26th podium at the National Shooting Championship Competitions. He had earlier topped the qualification round with 122 hits, finishing level with Parampal Singh Guron but securing the top rank after a shootout, where he scored +11 against Parampal’s +10.