BHAKER SIZZLES TO RECORD GOLD

NEWDELHI: Haryana shooter Manu Bhaker (Universal Sr. Secondary School, Jhajjar) won a gold in the 10m air pistol on way to breaking two junior national records at the first Khelo India School Games at the Karni Singh shooting ranges on Sunday. Bhaker also led a clean sweep by Haryana girls who dominated the podium. Haryana’s domination though, was amplified by the presence of five shooters from the state amongst the eight finalists.

In the boys event, UP’S Saurabh Choudhary claimed gold in a thriller that went down to the final shot after he frittered away a good early lead. In the qualification round, Bhaker bettered the three-year-old junior record of 385, set by Malaika Goel in 2013. The Jhajjar-based shooter scored 387, including 13 shots with scores of 10 or above.

In the finals, Bhaker was on the money claiming the first set of five shots, hitting the bullseye with a near-perfect score of 10.8. Over the span of 24 shots, Manu had hit the centre of the target 12 times. Behind Bhaker stayed her teammate Anjali Choudhary (Rising Sun Public School, Karnal), shooting 234.7 to claim the silver.

Earlier, Anjali qualified in the fourth place with a score of 379. Tanu Rawal, belonging to the same school as Anjali, claimed bronze accumulating 214.8, after having qualified last with a score of 373.

The finals of the boys’ event turned out to be a gripping affair after Saurabh lost his healthy lead of 2.1 points. That allowed Chandigarh’s Vijayveer Sidhu to pull up and tie the scores at 230.1 after 23 shots. While Saurabh struggled to find the bullseye, Vijayveer consistently scored 10 or above from the 15th shot on.

With the fate of the gold medal hanging by a narrow margin of one shot, Saurabh drew on his experience to calm his nerves to fire 10 with his 24th shot.