National Shooting C'ships: Ajay Kumar wins 10m Air Pistol gold; Jonathan Antony shines across junior and youth sections

New Delhi, Jan 3 Army’s Ajay Kumar and Karnataka’s Jonathan Gavin Antony headlined an action-packed day at the 68th National Shooting Championship Competitions, with Ajay claiming the gold medal in the 10m Air Pistol Men’s final after a closely fought contest, while Jonathan capped a standout campaign by completing a rare Sub-Youth, Youth and Junior treble in men’s air pistol events, at Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi on Saturday.

ir Pistol

Ajay Kumar of the Army delivered a composed performance to win the gold medal in the 10m Air Pistol Men’s final at the 68th National Shooting Championship Competitions. Ajay finished on top with a score of 241.1, edging out Railways’ Shubham Bisla, who settled for silver with 240.1 after a closely-fought final. Haryana’s Anmol Jain secured the bronze medal with 220.0.

Haryana’s Shiva Narwal narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth with 197.2, while Navy shooters Aakash Bhardwaj and Ujjawal Malik placed fifth and sixth with 177.8 and 157.3, respectively. Rahul Serawat of Rajasthan ended seventh on 136.6, and Punjab’s Arjun Singh Cheema completed the final line-up in eighth place with 115.8.

The qualification round saw intense competition, with Ujjawal Malik (Navy), Rahul Serawat (Rajasthan), and Shiva Narwal (Haryana) all shooting 584, differentiated by inner-10 counts. Malik topped the qualification on 584-22x, followed by Serawat (584-17x) and Narwal (584-17x). Arjun Singh Cheema (583-23x), Anmol Jain (583-22x), Ajay Kumar (583-20x), Shubham Bisla (583-16x), and Aakash Bhardwaj (582-25x) completed the list of finalists.

Among notable names, Sarabjot Singh finished 19th with 580-22x, while reigning World Champion Samrat Rana ended 71st on 576-20x. Defending champion Varun Tomar had an off day, finishing 99th with 575-16x, underlining the depth and competitiveness of the men’s air pistol field at this year’s championships.

TN completes Trap Mixed Team double

At the shotgun range, Tamil Nadu edged past Madhya Pradesh to clinch the title with a score of 36–35 in the Senior Trap Mixed Team gold medal match. Olympian R. Prithviraj Tondaiman led the charge for Tamil Nadu with 19 hits, supported by Nilaa Rajaa Baalu, who contributed 17 hits.

National Women’s Trap champion Neeru Dhanda and Arshad Hasan Khan fought hard with 20 and 15 hits respectively, but had to settle for silver. The bronze medal went to Rajasthan, who defeated Haryana 42–37, courtesy of Vivaan Kapoor’s 25 hits and Manvi Soni’s 17, while Haryana’s Bhowneesh Mendiretta and Aashima Ahlawat scored 20 and 17 respectively.

The qualification round saw Madhya Pradesh top the standings with 136, led by Neeru Dhanda (69) and Arshad Hasan Khan (67). Tamil Nadu finished second on 134+2, ahead of Rajasthan on 134+1 after a shoot-off. Haryana, with 133+6, secured the last place in the bronze medal match, ahead of Punjab (133+6) and Delhi (133+1)

In the Junior Trap Mixed Team gold medal match, Tamil Nadu once again claimed the national championship after defeating Haryana 39–35. Yugan SM starred for Tamil Nadu with 22 hits, while Tanisska Senthilkumar added 17. Haryana’s Arjun and Suhanya Singh scored 18 and 17, respectively, in a closely fought contest. The bronze medal match saw Uttar Pradesh overcome Rajasthan 41–36, with Zuhair Khan contributing 21 hits and Sabeera Haris adding 20, while Rajasthan’s Vinay Pratap Singh Chandrawat and Darshna Rathore finished with 20 and 16.

Earlier in junior qualification, Haryana topped the table with 135, followed by Tamil Nadu on 133, Rajasthan on 132, and Uttar Pradesh on 128, setting the stage for competitive medal encounters in the finals.

Jonathan Gavin Antony completes a treble

The Youth Men’s final saw Jonathan produce a composed performance to top the field with a score of 240.0. Punjab’s Guntajpreet Singh secured the silver medal with 236.0, while Uttar Pradesh’s Savej Khan claimed bronze on 214.3. Harsh Kumar Haldkar of Madhya Pradesh finished fourth with 195.9, followed by Abhay Dhama (174.7), Aryan (152.5), and Jatin Nirwal (125.6), all from Uttar Pradesh.

Later in the day, Jonathan returned to the range for the Junior Men’s final and once again delivered under pressure, winning gold with a score of 240.5. Haryana’s Shiva Narwal finished a close second with 240.3, while Rajasthan’s Yogesh Kumar secured bronze on 218.2. Uttar Pradesh’s Abhay Dhama (198.3) and Jatin Nirwal (178.9) placed fourth and fifth, respectively, followed by Punjab’s Guntajpreet Singh (157.5) and Madhya Pradesh’s Harsh Kumar Haldkar (136.3). Himanshu Soni did not start in either the junior or youth final.

Other Results:

10m Air Pistol

Men’s Team

Navy (Ujjawal Malik, Aakash Bhardwaj, Arpit Tomar) – Gold (1743.0-70x)

Karnataka (Jonathan Gavin Antony, Siddharth Prakash Divate, Darren K Dawn) – Silver (1734.0-70x)

Uttar Pradesh (Harsh Swami, Gaurav, Chirag Sharma) – Bronze (1734.0-54x)

Junior Men’s Team

Haryana (Kapil, Priyanshu Yadav, Samrat Rana) – Gold (1733.0-60x)

Rajasthan (Yogesh Kumar, Pankaj Jaat, Sandeep Bishnoi) – Silver (1732.0-55x)

Uttar Pradesh (Himanshu Rana, Pankaj, Chirag Sharma) – Bronze (1731.0-61x)

Youth Men’s Team

Haryana (Priyanshu Yadav, Shubham Chauhan, Ankush) – Gold (1726.0-59x)

Punjab (Guntajpreet Singh, Armaan Singh, Dishant Thakur) – Silver (1726.0-48x)

Madhya Pradesh (Harsh Kumar Haldkar, Jatin, Yugpratap Singh Rathore) – Bronze (1722.0-45x)

Sub-Youth

Jonathan Gavin Antony (Karnataka) – Gold (581-23x)

Abhay Dhama (Uttar Pradesh) – Silver (580-18x)

Mohin Khan (Uttar Pradesh) – Bronze (579-16x)

Deaf Men

Abhinav Deshwal (Uttarakhand) – 576-15x

Chirag Rathi (Haryana) – 563-11x

Chetan Hanmant Sapkal (Maharashtra) – 561-11x

Men Civilian

Rahul Serawat (Rajasthan) – Gold (584-17x)

Jaypal Malviya (Madhya Pradesh) – Silver (582-20x)

Harsh Swami (Uttar Pradesh) – Bronze (582-16x)

Junior Men Civilian

Guntajpreet Singh (Punjab) – Gold (581-17x)

Jatin Nirwal (Uttar Pradesh) – Silver (581-14x)

Abhay Dhama (Uttar Pradesh) – Bronze (580-18x)

Men's Civilian Team

Uttar Pradesh (Harsh Swami, Himanshu Rana, Naveen Singh Pannu) – Gold (1736.0-59x)

Madhya Pradesh (Jaypal Malviya, Harsh Kumar Haldkar, Yugpratap Singh Rathore) – Silver (1731.0-48x)

Rajasthan (Hemant Singh Choudhary, Abhishek Choudhary, Tanmay Kumar) – Bronze (1727.0-56x)

Junior Men Civilian Team

Uttar Pradesh (Abhay Dhama, Himanshu Rana, Pankaj) – Gold (1736.0-61x)

Rajasthan (Tanmay Kumar, Mayank Choudhary, Mohit Singh) – Silver (1712.0-52x)

Rajasthan (Ashish Singh, Alok Saini, Anshul) – Bronze (1711.0-58x)

Master Men

Babu Ram (Chandigarh) – Gold

Sib Kumar Ghosh (West Bengal) – Silver

Samaresh Jung (CISF) – Bronze

Senior Master Men

Arun Tewari (Uttar Pradesh) – Gold

Ajit Jayant Kharkar (Maharashtra) – Silver

Vijay Kumar (Tamil Nadu) – Bronze

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