67th National Shooting Championship: Bhavtegh, Ganemat clinch skeet gold medals

67th National Shooting Championship: Bhavtegh, Ganemat clinch skeet gold medals

World University Championship gold medallist Bhavtegh Singh Gill established himself yet again as the shooter to beat in skeet, as he won the gold medal by beating Air India international pilot Fatehbir Singh Shergill 54-51 in the final on a cold and gloomy morning at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Tuesday.

Bhavtegh handled the poor visibility better than everyone else, and thus, was able to beat the qualification topper Fatehbir (123). For Fatehbir, it was a commendable progress from a score of 112, his previous best in the nationals.

“It was hard to sight the flash birds in my first final. I was so happy to shoot a perfect 50 in the last two rounds yesterday. Today was hard, but I am happy to fight well and get the silver with such little experience in such a strong field,” said Fatehbir, who will command his next flight to Toronto after Christmas.

Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan beat another Olympian Angad Vir Singh Bajwa to the bronze medal, while joint qualification topper Munek Battula finished sixth.

In women’s skeet, Ganemat Sekhon beat Asees Chhina by four birds to take the gold.

“Every competition is important, and I am happy with the effort,” said a beaming Ganemat.

Olympian and qualification topper Raiza Dhillon (122) settled for the bronze, ahead of Vanshika Tiwari, Shivani Raikwar and Yashasvi Rathore.

Raiza recovered well to shoot the junior gold with a six-point margin over Vanshika while Yashasvi won the bronze, ahead of Shivani, Agrima Kanwar and Risham Guron.

There was a bit of an anti-climax for Bhavtegh in the afternoon, as he was beaten 6-5 in the shoot-off after being tied on 52 for the gold against Ishaan Singh Libra in the junior men’s final. Munek did justice to his efforts by clinching the bronze, ahead of Zorawar Singh Bedi, Atul Singh Rajawat and Harmehar Singh Lally.