The Hindu : Sport : Indian marksmen shoot silver

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Thursday, Oct 18, 2007
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Sport

Indian marksmen shoot silver

A. Joseph Anthony

Vijay Kumar impresses in 25m centre fire pistol event

— Photo: G. Krishnaswamy

CRACK SHOTS: The Indian team (from left) of C.K. Choudhary, Vijay Kumar, Pemba Tamans and Hambir Singh that won the silver in the 25m centre fire pistol in Military World Games on Wednesday.

HYDERABAD: A bout of chicken pox laid Vijay Kumar low earlier in the year, denying him his best in the four World Cups that followed. Fitness freak that he is, he worked his way back to form, so much so that he was asked to take a break from shooting to rejuvenate his skills, on arrival in Hyderabad.

Rich rewards

At the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) range on Wednesday, that ploy by Indian captain Surya Veer Singh Rajvee reaped rich rewards, as the wiry 23-year-old from Harsour village of Hamirpur district in Himachal Pradesh returned the best individual score of 297 in the duelling round of the men’s 25m centre fire pistol team championships.

The 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games gold medallist in the 25m rapid fire pistol also had an impressive precision round tally of 293 on Tuesday.

Hambir shines

That set the tenor for young Hambir Singh, considered the find of the year. (He’s still competing in the junior category and is picked for three events in the Asian championships to be held in Kuwait in December.) C.K. Choudhary chipped in equally with 577, fetching India the silver behind China, but ahead of formidable Russia, that had legendary crackshot Mikhail Nestruev in its line-up.

Pemba Tamang’s performance should perk up following the dip in form in this event, said Rajvee. Owing to their good showing in the team competitions, Vijay, Hambir and Choudhary have qualified for the individual championship slated for Thursday.

At hand to share the joy were coach Major Praveen Dahiya and Col. Ivor James Peoples, Commanding Officer of the Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU), Military Headquarters of War (MHOW), where the entire Indian contingent has been training for a year.

The results: Men: 25m centre fire pistol team: 1. China 1758 (Gao Zheng 587, Liu Yadong 586, Jin Yongde 585) 2. India 1744 (Vijay Kumar 590, C.K. Choudhary 577, Hambir Singh 577) 3. Russia 1740 (Sergey Polyakov 582, Mikhail Nestruev 581, Anton Guriyanov 577).

300m standard rifle three position individual: 1. Erdem Hakan 587/600 (Turkey) 2. Vebjorn Berg 584 (Norway) 3. Thomas Farnik 582 (Aus).

Women: 50m sport rifle team: 1. China 1775 (Xiangyan Wan 594, Wen Yin 593, Yi Jiad 588) 2. Korea 1766 (Mi Kyoung Lee 594, Ji Hye Yoo 587, Mi Jin Lee 585) 3. Ukraine 1765 (Natalia Omelianenko 594, Natalia Kalnysh 588, Lesia Leskiv 583). Individual: 1. Yi Jiad 2. Wen Yin 3. Xiangyan Wan (all China, each scored 595).

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