National Shooting C’ships: Defending champs Lakshay, Bhavya make trap finals
New Delhi: Defending champions Lakshay Sheoran of Haryana and Bhavya Tripathi of Delhi have made it to the men’s and women’s trap shooting finals of the ongoing 67th National Shooting Championship Competitions (NSCC) for Shotgun events, being held at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range near here on Wednesday.
While Lakshay topped the 92-strong men’s qualification field, local favourite Bhavya clinched the fifth qualifying spot in women’s qualification.
Six qualification toppers will line up for the men’s final on Thursday while the women go next up on the same day. The junior men’s and women’s finals will follow these two senior finals.
Former Asian Games silver medallist Lakshay began the day on top with a card of 73 after the first three 25-shot rounds. He ended the same way, winning (8-7) a 16-shot shoot-off at the end over Olympian and senior pro, Prithviraj Tondaiman to determine crucial bib numbers for the final.
Prithviraj’s two perfect rounds of 25 each on the day meant he ended tied at the top with Lakshay on 121 hits each after the latter missed two targets in the final round. The duo will be joined in the final among others by veteran Zoravar Singh Sandhu, who will be making his third consecutive trap finals at the nationals.
Also making the six-man cut was Shardul Vihan, yet another former Asian Games silver medallist who first won a senior national title, albeit in Double Trap, as a 14-year-old. He has made the cut in the junior final as well.
In the women’s category, yet another Olympian Rajeshwari Kumari of Punjab, made the final, topping the qualifications with a score of 114 (24,23,25,22,20). Besides Bhavya (110), two other women including Uttar Pradesh’s Sabeera Haris and Madhya Pradesh’s Shreshtha Sisodiya have made both the women’s and junior women’s finals.
The National Shooting Championships Competitions are being held in various categories at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range near here and the Madhya Pradesh Shooting Association Ranges in Bhopal.