NEW DELHI: Paris Olympics quota winners Akhil Sheoran and Anish Bhanwala as well as Niraj Kumar shone the brightest as Indian rifle and pistol shooters ended their Polish Grand Prix campaign with six medals, including two gold on Monday.
Some members of India’s 50m rifle and 25m rapid-fire pistol squad are currently on an exposure tour to Europe to compete in various established international Shooting events, in the build-up to Paris 2024.
Akhil Sheoran won gold for India in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) match two, when he shot a scorching 468.4 to leave Patrik Jany of the Czech Republic a distant 2.2 behind in second at the Grand Prix Wroclawia & Dolnego Slaska. Both those scores were however higher than the existing world record of 466.1, held by Jany’s countryman Jiri Privratsky, as per a press release from the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).
Anish Bhanwala also won gold in the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol, to extend a golden run of form at the Jozef Zapedzki Grand Prix held simultaneously.
Navy shooter Niraj Kumar was also highly impressive finishing with two bronze medals in both the men’s 3P matches, thereby becoming the only Indian to finish with two medals.
Niraj also shot impressive scores of 595 and 594 in the two qualification matches. In the first match, he finished third behind Jany and Rio Olympic silver medalist Serhiy Kulish of Ukraine. Swapnil Kusale also shot a solid 595 in match two to top the qualification standings, being more accurate than Niraj, but finished fourth overall.
The two Grand Prixes also saw another Paris quota winner Shriyanka Sadangi win bronze in the women’s 3P and Ashi Chouksey pick up a silver in the second women’s 3P. The entourage now moves to Germany where the ISAS Dortmund is set to begin from Tuesday, March 18, 2024. (ANI)