The juniors kept pushing their way forward, but Mohd. Asab asserted his prowess, as he beat Bhowneesh Mendiratta 27-24 for the double trap gold in the 59th National shotgun championship that concluded here on Wednesday.
While Ahvar Rizvi, an eighth standard student from Meerut, was on par with Asab in the lead on 136 in qualification, Mendiratta, who is guided by former Asian champion Anwer Sultan, did well to make the gold round, before nerves restricted him to the silver medal twice.
“This gold is very important for me, as it is the first time that I am winning the National championship gold. I was happy with the way I shot. I am ready for more training in Delhi and get the Olympic quota place,” said the 28-year-old.
“There was no pressure. I made technical mistakes. I threw the barrel and jumped. The young boy (Mendiratta) did his best despite lack of experience. Inshallah , Ahvar Rizvi will win the junior gold,” said Asab, who also hails from Meerut.
It did happen that way, as Rizvi, trained by Vikram Chopra, wiped away the disappointment by shooting a perfect 30 in the semifinals of the juniors. It was his second 30 of the day, after the one in the fourth round. Yoginderpal Singh Sansanwal also managed to shoot a perfect 30.
In contrast, Mendiratta did not have any international exposure, and the bespectacled lad could not stretch his fine run after shooting 28 in the semifinals and beating Sangram Dahiya in the shoot-off 2-1. Defending champion Ankur Mittal had shot 27 to be ready for the bronze match, but Dahiya won it 27-25.
Asian Games gold medallist Ronjan Sodhi was unable to lift his fortunes after shooting 21 in the first round and placed ninth eventually, on 127, the same score as Yoginderpal Singh and Ajay Mittal.
Rizvi did have to go through a tough grind among the juniors and caught up with the erratic Mendiratta in the gold contest. The two showed great composure to shoot the last two birds each to force the tie on 27. Rizvi, who started the shoot-off, prevailed 4-2 and it was silver once again for Mendiratta.
The results: Double trap:Men: 1. Mohd. Asab 27 (29) 136; 2. Bhowneesh Mendiratta 24 (28)2 (132); 3. Sangram Dahiya 27 (28)1 (130); 4. Ankur Mittal 25 (27) 135; 5. Ahvar Rizvi 26 (136); 6. Prithviraj Tondaiman 21 (130).
Juniors: 1. Ahvar Rizvi 27(4) 30 (136); 2. Bhowneesh Mendiratta 27(2) 25 (132); 3. Priyanshu Pandey 26 (24) 125; 4. Aditya Vikram Singh 25 (24) 126; 5. Shapath Bharadwaj 23 (125); 6. Gursher Singh Kohli 20 (128).
Veterans: 1. Ranajit Nobis 78; 2. Simerjit Singh Sekhon 70; 3. Jagwal Singh Sidhu 57.
