Double gold for Dhanush at shooting championship

New Delhi, Nov. 12: Telangana state’s teenager Dhanush Srikanth made his junior India debut count in glorious fashion, gunning down a double gold by winning both the individual and team 10m Air Rifle Men Junior competitions at the ongoing 14th Asian Shooting Championship in Qatar.

Taking aim on the penultimate day of the competition at the Lusail Shooting Complex, Dhanush first qualified for the finals with a relatively sedate 625.3, and then romped home with a 248.2 in the eightman 24-shot final, leaving silver winner Jiang Xuanle of China a whole 2.5 points behind.

India’s Shahu Tushar Mane won bronze with a finals score of 226.4, after topping the qualification round with 629.3. Hriday Hazarika, who also reached the finals finishing eighth in qualification with 622.5, managed an overall seventh place finish.

The trio had earlier secured the team gold with their qualification round exploits totaling 1877.1, ahead of China and Korea.

Howeevr, there was heartbreak for India in the Junior Women’s Air Rifle, where Shreya Agrawal, after shooting a sparkling 632 to top qualification by the proverbial mile, settled for individual silver in the end, coming second to China’s Yan Jinjing.

Yan shot 251.8 to Shreya’s 250.6 in the final. Khushi Saini also won individual bronze for India in the event with a finals score of 228.8.

The trio of Shreya, Khushi and Aakriti Dahiya had earlier combined for a team bronze in the event with a total of 1877.1. Team China won gold with a new World and Asian record score of 1882.4.

Angad Bajwa followed up his gold winning exploits in Men’s Skeet on Monday, with silver in the Mixed Team Skeet on the day partnering Ganemat Sekhon.

The pair came second best to China’s pair of Wei Meng and Jin Di in the final stage of the event. The final score reading 36-33 in China’s favour.