In shooting a tale of twin success
Pistol shooter Udhayveer and twin brother Vijayveer are motivating each other to corner more glory
PUNE: The Sidhu household in Chandigarh welcomes healthy competition. It has to because their twin sons Udhayveer and Vijayveer have chosen to pursue the same sport --- shooting. While growing up, they would often vie for the same medal in competitions.
However, Monday was different. Competing in two different categories at the Khelo India Youth Games, Udhayveer clinched gold medal in the U-17 10m air pistol while Vijayveer finished with a silver in the U-21 category of the same event.
The 16-year olds competed in different events because Vijayveer had qualified for the U-21 rapid fire pistol and had to compete in the same age category in air pistol as well.
The twins have tasted success at the international level as well. Udhayveer had won gold in sports pistol at the 2018 Junior World Championships in Changwon, South Korea, while Vijayveer had won gold in standard pistol.
“We both tried our hand in many sports but shooting suited us the most. Now we are taking it seriously. It helps to have your brother in the same sport. We correct and motivate ourselves too,” Udhayveer said.
But does it pinch to fight for the same medal sometimes? “It often happens, like during the first national trials for youth national last year, where I came on top. My mother is not bothered about the competition among us,” says Udhayveer, whose father Gurpreet passed away in 2017.
The brothers are, however, concerned about the second and third national trials in February. “Three papers of our 12th board exams are coinciding with trials dates. We will have to consult our coach (DS Chadel) about how to progress,” says Vijayveer, who was second in the U-21 category with 240.9 points. That 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, the topplaced Udhayveer was followed by Punjab’s Rajkanwar Singh (238.8 pts) and Andhra Pradesh’s Mukesh Nelavalli (216.7 pts).
SANJAY CONTINUES GOOD SHOW
Sanjay Jayakrishnan of Karnataka continued his good show in swimming, claiming his third individual gold here after clocking the fastest time of 2 minutes 10.34 seconds to win the U-17 200m butterfly.
The silver went to Delhi’s Bikram Changmai (2:10.56 seconds) and the bronze to Gujarat’s Aryan Panchal (2:14.08 seconds)
Sanjay had earlier won the U-17 200m and 400m freestyle. He had also won bronze in 1500m freestyle.
Apart from Sanjay, Karnataka’s Deeksha Ramesh (U-21 girls 50m freestyle), Likith SP (U-1 boys 50m freestyle) and Avinash Mani (200m butterfly) also won gold, making it the most successful state in the pool on Monday. Maharashtra won two gold while Rajasthan and Haryana got one each.
TAMIL NADU LIFTERS SHINE
In weightlifting, Tamil Nadu grabbed two gold medals and two bronze.
Uttar Pradesh was the next best team with one gold, three silvers and a bronze.
For Uttar Pradesh, Pushpender Singh clinched the gold medal, lifting a total of 254 kg in the U-17 102 kg category.
Singh set a record in the snatch category lifting 114kg in the third attempt. The previous record was 113 kg, held by Punjab’s Jasveer Singh.
Tamil Nadu’s Rudra Mayan, who won gold in U-17 102+kg event with a combined lift of 269 kg, also broke a national record in snatch with a lift of 118kg.
HARYANA TAKE GOLD IN HOCKEY
Haryana earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Punjab to clinch the men’s under-17 hockey gold at the Mahindra Hockey Stadium in Mumbai.
Both teams played with caution in the first two quarters before going for an all-out attack in the following two.
The decisive moment of the match came in the 40th minute when Sahil Sharma netted home to seal the match.
Earlier, Odisha overcame Uttar Pradesh 3-2 on penalties to take home the bronze medal.
In the U-17 women’s competition, Haryana defeated hosts Maharashtra 5-0 in their Pool B match while Odisha defeated Mizoram 4-2.
In U-21 women’s competition Haryana defeated Uttar Pradesh 4-2 to win their second consecutive match to top Pool B while Punjab beat Chandigarh 7-1.