Bhopal, Dec 10: Asian Games medallist Vijayveer Sidhu finished on top of a star-studded men’s 25m centre-fire pistol field on the the concluding day of the 66th National Shooting Championship for pistol events here.
Haryana finished comfortably on top of the medal tally with 45 medals, including 20 gold at the M.P. State Shooting Academy ranges.
Vijayveer, winner of men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol team bronze at the Asian Games earlier this year, shot 587 to ward off Udit Joshi of the CISF, who finished second with 582.
Paris Olympics quota winner Anish Bhanwala finished third on the same score because of fewer ‘inner-10s’.
The field also included Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar (16th with 575), who was competing for Himachal Pradesh, and Olympian Gurpreet Singh (11th, 578) turning out for the Army.
Former India internationals Omkar Singh (fourth with 582) and Amanpreet Singh (eighth with 580), in fact, did better than the Olympians.
Omkar also helped Indian Navy win the team event, combining with Rajat Yadav and Amit Kumar for a total of 1741. Ankur Goel of Uttar Pradesh won the civilian championship with a score of 573 while Tamil Nadu won the civilian team event.
At the end of the three-week championships, Haryana with a tally of 20 gold, 13 silver and 12 bronze medals were far superior to Maharashtra, who were second with 13 gold, three silver and three bronze.
Punjab were third with 10 gold.
Uttar Pradesh topped the civilian medal tally. (PTI)
