National Shooting Championship: Anjum Moudgil wins women's 10m air rifle event; Mehuli Ghosh scoops four golds

Thiruvananthapuram: Anjum Moudgil of Punjab continued her brilliant run of form by winning the women’s 10m air rifle competition while Bengal’s Mehuli Ghosh, the other star of the day, claimed four gold medals at the 62nd National Shooting Championship in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. Anjum followed up her 50m rifle 3 positions victory a day earlier with another top podium finish. [caption id=“attachment_5012611” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Anjum Modgil. Reuters[/caption] Anjum shot 249.1 in the finals to lead a Punjab 1-2 with Jasmine Kaur coming second with a score of 247.9. C Kavi Rakshana of Tamil Nadu won the bronze with an effort of 226.0 in the eight-woman final. Ghosh was the other star of the day winning four gold, including the junior and youth women’s 10m air rifle individual and team event. She shot 253 in the youth final and 249.1 in the junior final respectively to emerge triumphant. Among other notable names, Olympian Apurvi Chandela made it to the air rifle finals but finished fourth to miss out on an individual medal. She however won gold in the team event along with ONGC compatriots Shriyanka Sadangi and Gayatri Pawaskar, totalling 1868.5 to leave behind Rajasthan, who had 1865. Earlier, Meghana Sajjanar topped the qualification round of the women’s air rifle with a score of 629.4, while Apurvi qualified third with 628.2. Anjum was, in fact, fifth to qualify with a round of 626.2, before turning the tables on her rivals in the finals. Also, Bhakti Bhaskar Khamkar of Maharashtra won the junior women’s 50m rifle 3 positions gold with a final round tally of 441.6, getting the better of West Bengal’s Ayushi Podder, who shot 440.4. In the shotgun nationals taking place in Jaipur, Uttar Pradesh (UP) won the bragging rights in men’s double trap with Md. Asab and Ahvar Rizvi winning the junior individual and team events respectively. Ahvar and Shardul Vihan were part of both the senior and junior winning teams of UP. Asab shot 134 to beat Ahvar by one bird in the men’s final while world number one Ankur Mittal came third with a score of 129. In the women’s junior double trap, it was a Punjab clean sweep with Prabsukhman Kaur shooting 84 to win the women’s individual event ahead of Pravjot Kaur Panesar (66). Both also teamed up to win the women’s team event along with teammate Hitasha.