Ronak Pandit upsets Jaspal Rana

Talented youngster Ronak Pandit upset compatriot and seasoned campaigner Jaspal Rana to win the 10m Air Pistol, setting a new meet record in the process, at the ninth SAF Games shooting competition in Islamabad on Friday.

India asserted their supremacy with the 1-2 in the event.

Added to that, Meena Kumari returned a golden double in the women's 50m Free Rifle Three Position.

India again won all the four gold medals on offer today.

The rush began with Meena, who finished on top with 578 points, a new meet record, surpassing the previous best by Sri Lanka's Pushpanjali Ramanayake, set in Kathmandu in 1999.

In a field of 16, Raj Kumari (575) and Kuheli Gangulee (568) completed the sweep, winning the silver and bronze respectively.

The Indian trio aggregated 1721 points for the team gold. They were followed by Pakistan (1662) and Bangladesh (1641).

Meena won the gold medal without much difficulty with a total of 100.8.

In an adjacent range, an interesting tussle was on between Pandit and Pakistan's Idrees in the men's 10m Air Pistol. At the end of first three rounds, Pandit (287) was just a point behind the Pakistani shooter.

However, the Indian came up with 97/100 in the fourth round as Idrees, who had a poor 93, started wilting under pressure.

While Pandit improved upon his performance to finish with 580 points in the qualifying (team final), Idrees and Jaspal Rana came second and third respectively.

In the individual event, Pandit maintained his momentum and led from start to finish while Rana made amends for his earlier errors by concentrating hard. His consistent show helped him to compile 96.9 to grab the silver medal with a total of 671.9, which was better than his previous best of 670.7 in Kathmandu.

Idrees (96.8, 575) ended with 671.8 points and collected the bronze medal after a winning tie-shoot with India's Vivek Singh.

Results (finals):

Women: 50m free rifle 3 position: 1.India 1721 points NMR (Meena Kumari 578, Raj Kumari 575, Kuheli Gangulee 568) (Old: Bangladesh 1716 in 1999 Kathmandu), 2. Pakistan 1662 (Nadia Saeed 560, Urooj Fatima 555, Nazish Khan 547), 3. Bangladesh 1641 (Suraiya Akhtar 545, Shabrina Rehman 543, Fawzia Khan 553).

Individual: 1. Meena Kumari (Ind 578, 100.8) 678.8 NMR (Old: 661.2 P Ramanayake {Sri Lanka, Kathmandu, 1999), 2. Raj Kumari (Ind 575, 98.1) 673.1; 3. Kuheli Gangulee (Ind 568, 95.2) 663.2.

Men: 10m Air Pistol Team: 1. India 1725 NMR (Ronak Pandit 580, Jaspal Rana 575, Vivek Singh 570) (Old: India 1706 Kathmandu in 1999), 2. Pakistan 1709 (Idrees 575, Irshad Ali 567, Mohd Abbas 567) 1709 and 3. Sri Lanka 1675 (E M Samanayake 564, Gamini 556, Nelson 555).

Individual: 1. Ronak Pandit (580, 101.5) 681.5 NMR (Old: Jaspal Rana 670.7, Kathmandu 1999), 2. Jaspal Rana (575, 96.9) 671.9, 3. Idrees (Pak 575, 96.8) 671.8.