Satyendra shoots his way past fancied names

Satyendra Singh timed his charge to perfection to tower above his more fancied rivals and win the men’s 50M 3-position gold at the 35th National Games shooting event on Friday.

The only final of the day witnessed a stiff competition with lead changing hands a few times before the Services shooter defeated Swapnil Kusale of Maharashtra in a shoot-off to win the gold.

The experienced Sanjeev Rajput of Haryana and Chain Singh of Services couldn’t last the distance. Rajput ended fourth while Chain, looking good to nail the top spot, faltered in the elimination phase to end up with the bronze medal.

“I am happy to win the gold but we are all friends and it is not like I knocked them down in a boxing contest,” said the 30-year-old Satyendra, who hails from Uttarakhand and trains at the Army Marksmanship Unit in Mhow, along with Chain.

Both Satyendra and Kusale ended at 445.8 after the final shot of the elimination phase, with Chain having bowed out a shot earlier with 434.9. In the shoot-off that followed, Kusale fired a 9.8 while Satyendra, taking all the time he was allowed to before releasing his shot, notched a 10.2 to seal the gold. After 40 shots – when the elimination started – Chain Singh was in the lead, followed by Surendra Rathod of Services and Sanjeev Rajput, with Satyendra way down the order. But as pressure mounted, the picture began to change.

Satyendra soared to joint-second place along with Rajput while Kusale climed to fourth place. Rathod slipped to fifth and then exited after the next shot, just as Satyendra and Kusale really came to the fore.

Rajput, managing only an 8.3 off the 43rd shot, went out leaving Satyendra, Chain and Kusale in the fray. Chain, placed third, came up with a 10.0 in the 44th shot but he couldn’t catch up with the top two. Kusale fired 10.3 to take the lead at 435.8 while Satyendra’s poor 8.9 pushed him to second spot at that stage with 435.5. But the subedar in the Army rose to the challenge superbly with a 10.3 and with Kusale shooting 10.0, the scores were tied. The shoot-off  then brought out the best from Satyendra, leaving Kusale with the silver.

Results: Men’s 50M rifle 3-positions: Satyendra Singh (Services) 445.8 (shoot-off 10.2), 1; Swapnil Kusale (Maharashtra) 445.8 (shoot-off 9.8), 2; Chain Singh (Services) 434.9, 3.
Team: Services 3492, 1; Haryana 3431, 2; Uttar Pradesh 3396, 3.