In shooting a tale of twin success
PUNE: The Sidhu household in Chandigarh welcomes healthy competition. It has to because their twin sons Udhayveer and Vijayveer are pursuing the same sport – shooting.
While growing up they would often vie for the same medal. Monday was different. Competing in separate categories at the Khelo India Youth Games, Udhayveer clinched gold in the U-17 10m air pistol while Vijayveer finished with a silver in the U-21 category of the same event.
The reason for the 16-yearolds competing in different age categories was because Vijayveer had qualified for the U-21 rapid fire pistol and had to compete in the same age category in air pistol too.
The 16-year-old twins have tasted success at the international level as well. Udhayveer won gold in sports pistol at the 2018 Junior World Championships in Changwon, South Korea while Vijayveer finished at the top in standard pistol.
“We both tried our hand in many sports but shooting suited us the most. We are taking it seriously. It helps to have your brother in the same sport. We also correct and motivate ourselves,” Udhayveer said.
But does it pinch to fight for the same medal sometimes? “It often happens like it did at the first national trials for juniors last year. I came on top. My mother is not bothered about the competition between us,” says Udhayveer. Their father Gurpreet passed away in 2017.
The brothers are, however, concerned about the second and third national trials next month.
“The dates for three papers of our 12th board exams are clashing. We will have to consult with our coach (DS Chadel) about how to progress,” says Vijayveer.
He logged 240.9 points to come second in the U-21 category of 10m air pistol.
The event was won by Punjab’s Arjun Singh Cheema (241.2 pts) and the bronze went to Haryana’s Sarabjot Singh (218.5 pts). In the U-17 category, winner Udhayveer was followed by Punjab’s Rajkanwar Singh (238.8 pts) and Andhra Pradesh’s Mukesh Nelavalli (216.7 pts).
SANJAY CONTINUES GOOD SHOW
In swimming, Sanjay Jayakrishnan of Karnataka contin-
ued his good show by claiming his third individual gold, clocking 2 minutes 10.34 seconds to win the 200m butterfly in U-17.
Delhi’s Bikram Changmai (2:10.56) took silver and Gujarat’s Aryan Panchal (2:14.08) the bronze.
Jayakrishnan added to his victories in the 200m and 400m freestyle. He also won bronze in 1500m freestyle.
Karnataka won five other gold medals through Deeksha Ramesh (50m freestyle — U-21 girls), Likith SP (50m freestyle, 50m breaststroke — U-21 boys), Avinash Mani (200m butterfly — U-21 boys) and the 4x100 freestyle, making it the most successful state in swimming on Monday. Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu won two gold each.
TN LIFTERS SHINE
In weightlifting, two youth national records were broken by Tamil Nadu’s T Dharshini and S. Rudra Mayan.
In the girls’ 81kg U-21 category, Dharshini won with a total lift of 192kg (snatch 85, clean and jerk 107kg).
In snatch, she bettered her old mark by one kg and improved on her clean and jerk record of 105kg. Her total lift record rose from 190 to 192 kg.
Rudra Mayan, in the men’s +102kg U-17 category, clinched gold with a total lift of 269kg (snatch 118kg, clean and jerk 151kg). He eclipsed the earlier snatch record by three kg, and the clean and jerk mark by eight kg (total weight record improved by 11kg).
HARYANA TRIUMPH
Haryana earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Punjab to clinch the boys’ U-17 hockey gold at the Mahindra Hockey Stadium in Mumbai.
Both teams were cautious in the first two quarters before going all-out in the following two.
The decisive moment of the match came in the 40th minute when Sahil Sharma scored. Odisha overcame Uttar Pradesh 3-2 on penalties to take home the bronze medal.