Bhavesh Shekhawat wins 25m Rapid Fire Pistol in Kumar Surendra Singh Memorial

New Delhi, June 13 Rajasthan's Bhavesh Shekhawat won the men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol (RFP) event, in the ongoing 21st Kumar Surendra Singh Memorial (KSSM) Shooting Championship (Pistol) at the M.P. State Shooting Academy ranges in Bhopal on Tuesday.

The Indian international shooter had to get into a shoot-off twice with second-placed Udhayveer Sidhu of Punjab after both had tied with 26 hits in the 40-shot final.

Both Bhavesh and Udhayveer got four hits in the first shoot-off series, before the former shot four yet again in the second series to claim the title, as the Punjab lad could manage three. Delhi's Arpit Goel won bronze in the Olympic event with a score of 21.

Bhavesh had earlier also topped the qualification round with a solid 584, which equalled the meet record, with Udhayveer way behind in second with 576.

It is to be noted that scores of the KSSM are taken into account for national team selection and with the world championships and Asian Games coming up, Bhavesh would be pleased with his effort. Besides the three medallists, Mitesh Manilal Gohil of Gujarat, the Navy's Rajat Yadav and the Army's Neeraj Kumar, also made the top six, the NRAI informed in a release on Tuesday.

Sahil Dudhane of Maharashtra won the junior men's RFP with a score of 28 in the final. Udhayveer was second again, this time with 25 hits while statemate Jagvijay Partap Singh Sekhon was third.

Neeraj, Amrinder Singh and Ranjith KM also won the RFP team gold for their Army Marksmanship Unit, with a total of 1692, five points better than the silver-winning CISF's 1687.

Rajasthan all the way

It was quite a remarkable day for shooters from Rajasthan as Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Karttiki Singh Shaktawat led on day one of the Skeet competitions, being held at the same venue as part of the 4th Shotgun National Selection Trials.

Anantjeet shot a three-round score of 72, to be ahead of Atul Singh Rajawat on countback in Men's Skeet. In the Women's Skeet, Karttiki also had the same result, this time over India's No.1 Ganemat Sekhon of Punjab.

Gujarat's Zahra Mufaddal Deesawala and the host state's Atul Singh Rajawat were leading the junior women's and men's Skeet with scores of 70 and 72 respectively.

The Skeet shooters come back on Wednesday for their final two rounds of qualification, before the top six move to the final.