Like father, like son: Rathore Jr shoots gold; easy for Mehuli
Manavaditya beats Shardul Vihan and Lakshay Sheron; Mehuli overcomes jetlag to win
PUNE: The shooting discipline at the Khelo India Youth Games is a star-studded event. From Commonwealth Games medallist Mehuli Ghosh to Asian Games star Lakshay Sheoran, the current top crop is competing on this platform that aims to ‘discover’ future talent.
But it can get tricky at times. One moment of lapse in concentration and the reputation can go for a toss. Haryana lad Sheoran, who had won silver in trap at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, found it the hard way on Saturday and finished fourth in U-21 trap. Rajasthan’s Manavaditya Rathore, son of Olympic medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, came out on top in the event.
There was no such slip for West Bengal’s Mehuli in the U-21 10m air rifle event. She topped the qualification with a score of 629.4 and then consistently shot 10.5s and above in the final to seal gold with a score of 252.1.
RATHORE SHINES
Sheoran topped the qualification with a score of 120 while Rathore shot 116. That counted for nothing as he missed a series of birds to let the lead slip. Rathore too could find only five of the first 10 targets in the finals but then shot nine of the next 10 birds to be in comfortable third spot with five shots left before the first of the six finalists was eliminated.
In the end, Rathore’s final score read 38 while Haryana’s Bhowneesh Mendiratta (34) came second followed by Uttar Pradesh’s Shardul Vihan (26), who had also won silver at the Asian Games in double trap. Sheoran scored 22 in the final to finish fourth.
“I am focusing on the national trials in February. I want to represent India in international competitions at the senior level. I meditate a lot and that helped me keep my composure despite being in a tricky situation today,” said Rathore, a student of Hansraj College, New Delhi.
In U-21 women’s trap, Madhya Pradesh’s Manisha Keer won gold with a final score of 38. Delhi shooters Kirti Gupta (35) and Aadya Tripathi (25) claimed silver and bronze, respectively.
JETLAGGED MEHULI
Mehuli, who arrived from Germany two days back after a competition stint, negated jet lag to do justice to her reputation in the air rifle final. Her score of 252.1 in the final was way ahead of second-placed Elavenil Valarivan (248.8) of Gujarat and thirdplaced Manni Kaushik (227) of Rajasthan.
“I am happy with the scores since I was jetlagged. I have World Cups coming up and am also going to the Netherlands for training and competition. This is an Olympic qualification year and I have to peak at the right time,” Mehuli said.
In the U-21 men’s 50m rapid fire pistol, Harayana’s Adarsh Singh clinched gold, while in women’s U-17 10m air rifle Gujarat’s Heena Jayeshbhai Gohei clinched the top spot.
HARYANA WRESTLERS END ON A HIGH
Haryana emerged as the top team in wrestling as they finished with a haul of 24 golds, which was more than all others put together. In all they won 58 medals, which also included 16 silver and 18 bronze.
On the third day of athletics, Uttar Pradesh claimed top honours with three gold medals. Delhi judokas grabbed three gold medals out of the eight on offer. In gymnastics, Maharashtra maintained their overall lead by winning four of the eight gold medals on offer.
In swimming, for the third successive day Maharashtra (four gold, three silver), Delhi (three gold, three silver, two bronze) and Karnataka (two gold, one silver, one bronze) dominated.
HOCKEY FINAL
MUMBAI: Haryana set up a gold medal clash with Punjab in boys U-17 hockey. Punjab beat Odisha 6-5 in the tie-breakers after they were locked 2-2 at regulation time. In the other semi-final, Haryana beat Uttar Pradesh 3-2.