Bhatnagar emerges double trap champion

Vikram Bhatnagar gave a dazzling display of marksmanship to emerge winner in the Double Trap event in the National Shooting championship, at the Jagatpura range, in Jaipur on Thursday.

The day also belonged to young Ajay Mittal, who won the junior event with a new national record of 138, while Army girl Varsha Tomar pocketed the women's title.

The men's final was an absorbing affair as there were high scores even in the qualification rounds.

Ronjan Sodhi, who had equaled the world record twice earlier, was not at his best and shot 47, 46 and 46 in the qualification round but recovered to qualify for the final with a score of 139.

He shot 47 in the final round to have a tie with Himanshu, who could shoot just 43 in the final. But Ronjan could not get the better of the armyman and missed out on second shot in the tie breaker to settle for a bronze.

Ronjan was behind Vikram Bhatnagar and the Armyman Himanshu who had reached the final with scores of 144 and 143 respectively in the qualification round.

On the other hand, Bhatnagar, who already has two team golds in Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, was having a fine day. Producing perhaps the best scores after Olympics, Bhatnagar grabbed the gold with 191 correct shots.

After shooting a fine 46, 50 and 58, he capped it with 47 in the finals.

After his triumph Vikram said, "Sometimes it happens. But I missed Rajyavardhan Rathore. Had he been there I would have been happier with my victory. I have been around for a while but now I want to continue with same form till the CWG Games in Delhi," said Vikram.

Rajyavardhan Rathore who was watching the action from the

sidelines was a happy man.

"The high scores in the event shows the depth we have in this sport. Certainly we seniors will be pushed but in turn this set will also be pushed harder in near future as we have many a good youngsters coming up," he said.

Rathore had special words for Himanshu. "He is a very good shooter. I am happy that he has come good at this level. This has been possible only due to efforts of the army," he said.

Among the women Varsha Tomar, the silver medalist at the last nationals, took the title by scoring 81. Bharti Singh (75) and Shreyasi Singh (64) grabbed silver and bronze respectively.

The junior event saw Ajay Mittal in terrific form. Shooting high scoring qualification round with 43, 48, 47, he qualified for men's final too with a score of 138. This was also a new record in junior section improving upon 135 shot by Asher Noria in Pune in 2008.

Asher Noria (129) and Sangram Singh Dahiya (121) grabbed the second and third places respectively in junior section.