The Hindu : Sport / Shooting : Rathore thrives in tough conditions

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 03, 2005

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Sport - Shooting

Rathore thrives in tough conditions

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: It was fading light and the conditions were made tougher as the spectators were allowed to cheer and boo, but Olympic silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore asserted his class as he clinched the gold with a 183 out of 200, a 22-point margin, in the OP Jindal memorial topgun shooting championship at the Tughlakabad range here on Saturday.

Lt. Col. Rathore shot a spectacular 47 out of 50 in the final round, as he smashed the 'flash' targets square on their head and blew the clay birds into a colourful dust, in providing a fitting finale to the event that was organised to promote the sport.

"It was not that important to win, as 60 per cent of the competitors were juniors. It was interesting to shoot in the changed environment. Some even called my name when I was taking aim. It was a good challenge, and I think we will request NRAI to allow this in more competitions so that we are able to perform under the added pressure,'' said Rathore, who had shot a series of 46, 48 and 42 before the final.

Some of the leading shooters like Moraad Ali Khan and Ronjan Sodhi did not shoot for personal reasons.

"I was happy with my shooting. The third series should have been better but they didn't set the speed of the machines right while loading the flash targets for the third series," said Rathore, as he expressed his satisfaction about getting ready for the forthcoming World CupsActually, the competition was for the second spot and Vikram Bhatnagar did well to pip the National skeet champion, the young Allan Daniel Peoples, 161 to 160. Both shot 40 in the final and Bhatnagar's one-point lead after the third series proved handy.

There was a break before the last shot when the organisers tried to calculate the scores and keep the spectators informed. However, the attempt at quick arithmetic proved too much for the scorer and they had to continue with the last shot without the clarification about the situation.

In the event, Peoples missed his last two shots while Bhatnagar missed the last. That proved the difference. The silver was decided on the last pair.

The other three in the final, Dil Bahadur Thapa (158), Harpreet Mandla (154) and Vikram Chopra (142) were not able to push the eventual medallists though the first two did well to shoot rounds of 40 and 41 in the highly competitive final.

Golfer Jyoti Randhawa and former national skeet champion Naveen Jindal, who sponsored the event, tried their hand at double trap in the celebrity interlude.

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