'Hobby shooter' Abhinav Bindra defends 10m air rifle national title

India’s only individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra showed that despite being only a hobby shooter now, he has it in him to continue winning as he successfully defended his 10 metre air rifle title at the 58th National Shooting Championships on Monday. The 32-year-old Punjab marksman shot a total of 208 to retain the crown at the Balewadi Shooting Range. Army marksman Satyendra Singh finished second with a total of 207.2 while Haryana’s Sanjeev Rajput settled for the third place with 185. [caption id=“attachment_2002297” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of Abhinav Bindra. Getty[/caption] Ironically, Rajput had taken the pole position in the qualifications, shooting a total of 624 while Abhinav trailed the Haryana marksman by three points. Bindra had announced just before the 2014 Asian Games – where he won a bronze medal – that henceforth he would only train twice a week and take part in fewer competitions. In the team event, the Army Marksmanship Unit of Satyendra Singh, Chain Singh and Chavanke Ashok won the gold, shooting a total of 1857.5 points. Punjab finished second with a total of 1846.3 and the Air Force team settled for the bronze with a total of 1842.9. Also, Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar shot a total of 571 to become the new national champion in the 25m standard pistol category. Vijay scored 571 while Gurpreet Singh bagged the silver with a total of 570. Omkar Singh from the Navy settled for the bronze medal with a total of 568. In the team event, the Army Marksmanship Unit won the gold with 1684 points while the silver went to Border Security Force (BSF) with 1675 points. The Navy team settled for the bronze with 1665 points. IANS