Heena had topped the qualification evening with a score of 384. (Surce: File)
Young Manu Bhaker of Haryana registered a sterling double even as former world number one Heena Sidhu easily clinched the women’s pistol gold medal at the XVII Kumar Surendra Singh Memorial Shooting Championship. The 15-year-old Bhaker, on either side of Heena’s win, shone in both the women’s 10m air pistol youth and junior competitions.
On the penultimate day of the championship being held at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range, Heena, who had topped the qualification evening with a score of 384, started strongly for a wire-to-wire effort.
Representing ONGC, she shot 238.9 in the final while Malaika Goel of Haryana managed 238.6 to finish in second place. Shri Nivetha of Tamil Nadu finished third with an effort of 217.4 in the final.
The performance of the day, however, belonged to the young and talented Bhaker, who beat quality fields in both the 10m air pistol women youth and junior sections to win a double gold.
Among the competitors, she beat were recently-crowned junior world champion Yashaswini Singh Deswal, Malaika Goel who won silver in the women’s event and India international Muskan.
In the women’s junior event, Manu shot 239 in the final to beat Malaika Goel, who had to be content with the day’s second silver after scoring 236.2. Harshada Sadanand of Maharashtra shot 213.9 to claim the bronze medal.
In the youth category, she shot 234.9 in the final to beat Anjali Chaudhary of Haryana, who shot 232.1, while Tanu Rawal ensured a clean sweep for Haryana by claiming the bronze with 211.2.
