JOIN US The final day of the National Games shooting events was all about two classy competitors asserting themselves against their domestic challengers.
Vijay Kumar and Heena Sidhu have proved their calibre abroad against far tougher opposition but they needed to show it again at home, with young rivals eager to usurp their places.
As it turned out, both Vijay and Heena were comfortable winners in their pet events, the Services man triumphing in the rapid fire pistol and the Punjab lady winning the top place in the 10M air pistol.
Vijay, the Olympic silver medallist in this event, is on the way back after an injury and he showed the recovery had gone well with a steady performance, raising his level at the right time.
Vijay defeated Harpreet Singh of Haryana, scoring 28 hits to the latter’s 23 in the final. Harpreet, after starting with a zero, had come up with a couple of perfect 5’s to shadow Vijay and going into the final series of five shots, he trailed by just a point at 23-24.
Vijay fired four hits in the final series while Harpreet didn’t register even a single one, leaving the Services champion victorious by a comfortable margin.
Vijay too had started slowly, with only four hits in the first ten shots. But he recovered with 4, 5, and four in the next three series to power ahead, even as a confusion over scoring held up the shooters for a long while.
Shivraj Sase of Maharashtra claimed the bronze with 19 hits. Heena, the first Indian pistol shooter to be ranked number one in the world, had the new gun Malaika Goel to contend with in the final.
Malaika, the Commonwealth Games silver medallist, did show glimpses of her talent but faltered near the end to settle for silver.
Heena, after a consistent series in the final, finished with a total of 200.8 while Malaika was well behind at 196.5. Heena took a 2.6 point lead into the final two shots and then produced 10.3 and 9.9 while Malaika could manage only 7.8 with the first shot, and even a 10.7 off the final shot was to no avail. Annuraj Singh of Haryana claimed the bronze after bowing out with 177.
“It is a satisfactory performance but I am not entirely happy with it,” said Heena. “I was not at all pleased with my score (383) in the qualification round. But I knew what I was doing wrong and what I was doing right.
In the final, I concentrated on doing those right things again,” said the 25-year-old, who has also taken up the 25M sport pistol recently. “10M pistol will remain my main event and the sport pistol will help me in doing well here,” she said.
Results: Men: 25M rapid fire pistol: Vijay Kumar (Services) 28 hits, 1; Harpreet Singh (Haryana) 23, 2; Shivraj Sase (Maharashtra) 19, 3.
Team: Women: 10M air pistol: Heena Sidhu (Punjab) 200.8 points, 1; Malaika Goel (Punjab) 196.5, 2; Annuraj Singh (Haryana) 177.0, 3.
Rapid fire pistol team: Services 1701 points, 1; Haryana 1691, 2; Maharashtra 1682, 3.
10M air pistol team: Punjab 1139, 1; Haryana 1130, 2; Uttar Pradesh 1123, 3.