MUMBAI: The 18-year-old Rudrankksh Patil from Thane (Maharashtra), emerged victorious in the senior category of the 12th RR Lakshya Cup 2021 all-India Top 20 Invitational 10metre air rifle tournament at the Karnala Sports Academy, New Panvel, Navi Mumbai, on Saturday.
The one-day event was organised by Lakshya Shooting Club, after a break in 2020 due to the pandemic. Since its inception in 2008, women and men shoot an equal number of shots in a match, as per founder and Olympic finalist Suma Shirur’s concept of gender parity in sport. Top 20 of India’s air rifle shooters (men, women, seniors, juniors, youth categories) are invited. The competition features 60 shots as per ISSF regulations and is probably the only event where men and women compete together in the same match.
Rudrankksh, who won silver at the 64th Shooting Nationals held earlier this month in Bhopal, was leading from the start after the first two series of 5 shots each. A spirited fight from Navy’s Kiran Jadhav pushed Patil to the second position after the 15th shot. The former was back at the top a couple of shots later dominating the field as if he owned it. He eventually won with a comfortable margin of one full point at 251.8 and took home the ? 1 lakh cash prize along with goodies from the other sponsors.
Aayushi Gupta of UP finished third pipping Hriday Hazrika of Assam and finishing the year on the podium along with Patil and Jadhav. For Aayushi it was an important victory as she came back to the competitive arena after her marriage and sent a strong message to her competitors at the Bhopal Nationals earlier this month as she finished the qualification round in second place with a 630 plus score but had failed to reach the podium.
She said inspiration came from the likes of Suma, Anjali Bhagwat and those from that generation who continued to chase their passion and excelled.
Kiran Jadhav, the 25-year-old from Navy who finished second with 250.8 was crowned the National Champion in the 50m. 3 Position event on debut there, was rueing the fact that he could not repeat the feat at the RR Lakshya Cup.
Last year’s RR Lakshya Cup winner Tokyo Olympian, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, finished sixth in the 2021 edition and had an average outing. He was eighth in the qualification round with a score of 626.3 and the 12th edition was the third year he was taking part here.
Lakshya SC trainee and 2018 Youth Olympics silver medallist, Shahu Mane, shot the highest score 629.6 in the qualification round but could not find the form in the final, ending fifth. He had an impressive 628.6 in the Bhopal Nationals but could not manage a podium finish.
Nasik shooter Arya Borse (251.6) pipped Navi Mumbai shooter Mayuri Pawar of Lakshya SC for gold in junior section. The former totalled 249.1. The twenty-year-old champion was leading from the front, right from her first series five shots with a healthy 2-point margin.
Fifteen-year-old Mayuri, a Lakshya SC trainee and SGFI Gold medallist 2019, finished second. She had struggled at the Bhopal Nationals, scoring an under par 612.4 and this podium finish was a major boost as she managed a qualification score of 623.9
The bronze went to another Lakshya SC trainee, Muskan Kacholia of Gujarat, her first major podium finish in years. The other five who made the juniors finals were: Aakriti Dahiya (junior international), Harsh Kumar Bariar, Ranavir Katkar (the new star kid on the bloc), Khyati Chaudhari and Pankaj Mukheja (both jr. internationals). Ranavir had stormed into the senior national finals at Bhopal scoring an impressive 628.8 on debut. At the Lakshya Cup, he finished second in the qualification round with 626.2.
Results (Finals): Senior: 1. Rudrankksh Patil (Mah), 2. Kiran Jadhav (Navy), 3. Aayushi Gupta (UP).
