New Delhi, (Samajweekly) Indian Navy’s Niraj Kumar aced the men’s 50M Rifle Positions (3P) T3 trials at Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range on Wednesday, getting the better of two Olympians- Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar of Madhya Pradesh whom he beat 17-11 in the gold medal match and seasoned Sanjeev Rajput, who had to settle for bronze.
On Day 6 of the National selection trial 3 & 4, Niraj was up against it in a strong field of 94 and made it through to the final stages with a 584/600 in qualifying, which was enough to give him fourth place.
Sanjeev Rajput topped the qualifiers field with a 588, including a perfect 200/200 in the first Kneeling position and a 199/200 in the Prone position.
In the top eight-stage, Niraj finished second with a score of 404.7, narrowly edging out Rajput, who managed 404.3. Aishwary topped this stage with a 407.9.
In the junior men’s 3P T3 competition, Himachal’s Surya Pratap Singh Banshtu won gold with a 16-12 victory over M P’s Avinash Yadav.
Earlier on Tuesday, Maharashtra’s Rudrankksh Patil recorded a rare double, winning both the men’s and junior men’s 10M Air Rifle T4 competition.
Rudrankksh got the better of former state-mate and current Railwayman Shahu Mane with a favourable 17-11 result in the men’s gold medal encounter, while beating Rajasthan’s Yash Vardhan 17-13 in the junior men’s final.
