Bhopal: Mukheja wins second trial on the trot; Aishwary comes second

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Pankaj Mukheja won his second match in two days by winning the men’s 50-metre rifle 3 position (3P) T4 trials at the Madhya Pradesh State Shooting Academy range here on Sunday after he had won the T3 trials of the same event on Saturday. In the T4 gold medal match, Pankaj, representing the Railways, overcame local favourite Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar 16-12 to come out on top.

The other winner of the day was Mehuli Ghosh, representing the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited(ONGC), who won the women’s 10m air rifle T4 trials with a 17-9 result over her former statemate Swarnali Roy of West Bengal and Rajasthan’s Bhavesh Shekhawat won the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol (rfp) T4 trials. The day, however, belonged to Pankaj, who completed the men’s 3P double on his current trip to Bhopal. He upstaged railroad colleague Swapnil Kusale in the T3 trials.

Swapnil was pushed to the third place on Sunday by India's number one, Aishwary, as he finished second in the ranking round to claim the right to challenge Pankaj for gold. In the women’s 10m air rifle, Mehuli also shot an impressive 632.2 in qualification round, which was the second highest score in two trials running. She however finished second as Maharashtra’s Himani Chondhe upstaged her with a 634.5. Bhavesh Shekhawat of Rajasthan, meanwhile, emerged triumphant in the men’s 25-metre relay.

The medal match saw him line up against the likes of Vijay Kumar, the Olympic silver medallist and India international Neeraj Kumar of the Army, along with CISF’s Udit Joshi. Bhavesh pipped Neeraj, 30-29 to win, as Vijay finished third with 20 hits. Among the juniors, rising local star Gautami Bhanot also did a double in the women's 10m air rifle, winning the junior T4 trials to go with her earlier T3 win. Two more days remain in the national selection rifle and pistol trials for Group A shooters to be played.