Sarabjot new national pistol champion, Narwal wins junior title - Hindustan Times
close_game
close_game

Sarabjot new national pistol champion, Narwal wins junior title

ByAvishek Roy
Nov 27, 2021 10:14 PM IST

The national shooting championships in Delhi throws up new champions, who edged out Olympians Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma on Saturday

Sarabjot Singh and Shiva Narwal were on a hot streak in the 10m air pistol events at the Senior National Shooting Championships in the Dr Karni Singh range here on Saturday.

 Shiva Narwal (left), Sarabjot Singh and Harsh Gupta pose after the men's final at senior national championships.
 Shiva Narwal (left), Sarabjot Singh and Harsh Gupta pose after the men's final at senior national championships.

Singh pipped Narwal in the last shot to win the men’s competition. Narwal bounced back in the junior finals to claim gold with a new national record. Narwal, 15, shot a cool 10.7 to leave Saurabh Chaudhary in the second spot. In the process, he also broke Chaudhary’s finals record with a score of 246.7.

Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma have dominated 10m air pistol events in the last couple of years in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics. The first national championships post Covid–it was not held last year–has thrown up new faces. Chaudhary had to be content with silver in the junior category, while Verma did not qualify for the final.

Singh and Narwal had impressed with their showing at the junior world championships in Lima recently, and carried their form into the nationals. They were part of the gold medal winning men’s team while Singh bagged the mixed team gold alongside Manu Bhaker.

Chaudhary, who made it to the final of Tokyo Olympics, struggled for consistency on Saturday. He was eliminated at 4th place in the men’s final. That left Singh, Narwal and Harsh Gupta to fight for medals. Narwal was going great guns until the last round where Singh shot a 10 and 10.5 to snatch gold with a total of 242.3. Narwal had an aggregate of 241.7.

The junior finals saw Singh, Narwal and Chaudhary fight for the top spot. The seasoned Chaudhary, who won two individual World Cup gold medals in 2019, stormed into reckoning after a poor start to give himself a good chance of winning gold. But Narwal shot with composure and was steady under pressure, scoring impressively near the finish line. It allowed him to edge out Chaudhary by 0.2 point for gold. Sarabjot took silver.

Narwal draws inspiration from elder brother, Manish, who won gold at the Tokyo Paralympics.

“My brother started first and then I joined him. It was a big motivation for me to see him win a gold medal in the Tokyo Paralympics. Shortly after that I got an opportunity to compete in my first international competition in Peru and won gold in the team event,” said Narwal.

Singh, who hails from Ambala, had finished second to Chaudhary in the previous nationals. “The medals I won at the junior world championships gave me a lot of confidence. The competition was very tough in the qualification phase here. I just about made the cut for the final with 581. Initially I was feeling the pressure, but then I was able to focus. To become a national champion ahead of Saurabh and Abhishek bhaiya is a matter of pride. I am looking forward to participating in more internationals like Asian Games next year.”

Catch all the Latest IPL 2024 news and Live Cricket Score along with WPL Schedule and WPL Points Table related updates on Hindustan Times Website and APPs
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Share this article
SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
OPEN APP
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Friday, March 29, 2024
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On