Ankush Jadhav pips Babuta to claim men's 10m air rifle gold

Bhopal, Dec 22 (PTI) Navy's Kiran Ankush Jadhav held off the challenge of Olympian Arjun Babuta to clinch the gold medal in the men's 10m air rifle event at the 68th National Shooting Championship here Monday.

Jadhav finished with 252.1 to claim top-of-the-podium place ahead of Babuta, who secured silver with 251.4, while reigning 50m rifle 3 positions national champion Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar bagged bronze with 229.8.

Arjun's Railways teammate Shahu Tushar Mane finished fourth with 209.3, followed by Himanshu (181.1), Ramayana Tomer (166.7), Onkar Vikas Waghamare (145.4) and Pradeep Singh (123.3) to round out the final lineup.

In the men's 10m air rifle junior final, Gujarat's Mohammed Murtaza Vania delivered an authoritative display to secure the gold medal with 254.3.

Abhinav Shaw of West Bengal claimed the silver with 251.6, while Onkar Vikas Waghamare finished third with 230.1 to earn the bronze medal.

Naraen Pranav of Karnataka finished fourth with 209, following a shoot-off with Onkar, while Divyanshu Shailendra Dewangan (187.5) and Parth Mane (166.9) were placed fifth and sixth respectively, the latter also bowing out after a shoot-off.

Uma Mahesh Maddineni (145.3) and Himanshu (123) completed the finalists. PTI AT AT AH AH