Shooting Nationals: Bhavesh Shekhawat claims gold, Vijay Kumar finishes fourth

New Delhi: Rajasthan’s Bhavesh Shekhawat sealed his first title by winning the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol gold at the ongoing 64th Shooting Nationals, even as Olympic silver-medallist comeback-man Vijay Kumar finished fourth here on Sunday. Haryana’s Anish Bhanwala, who was third in the men’s event, claimed a gold in the junior rapid fire competition, strengthening his state’s firm grip at the top of the medals tally. In the men’s event though, Bhavesh, a long-time performer in the national circuit and who has also represented India, finally broke through on the day overcoming a quality field. He was in great form registering as many as three clean series scores of 5 in the eight-series final, to finish with 33 hits out of 40. The next best, the seasoned Gurpreet Singh of the Army, had one 5-hits series to claim the silver with 29, while Anish won bronze with 22 hits. Vijay, returning to competitive shooting after a gap of five years, bowed out in fourth position while on 17 hits. Youngsters Vijayveer Sidhu and Ahnad Jawanda finished fifth and sixth respectively. In the junior men’s final, Anish was in stunning form, not shooting below 4 per series with two clean scores of 5 among them. His final score of 34 was way ahead of state-mate Adarsh Singh, who won silver with 30-hits. Sidhu picked up the bronze for Punjab with 24. After 10 days of competitions, 32 gold medals have been given out so far in the pistol events, with Haryana claiming 12 of them to sit at the top. They are followed by Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, who have four gold medals each. Haryana also has most medals with 27. Over 4500 athletes have descended at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range to participate in the tournament, scheduled to run till 6 December.