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Reigning Asian champion and multiple ISSF medallist Varun Tomar nailed a double winning both the senior and junior men's 10m air pistol titles at the 67th National Shooting Championship Competitions (NSCC) for Pistol events, being played here at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting range in the national capital.
The 21-year-old Army marksman who narrowly missed out on last year's Paris Olympics squad, overcame a sluggish start in the senior final to snatch a maiden national crown at the expense of teammate Pradhyumn Singh, who fell short by 0.8 points. Rajasthan's Aakash Bhardwaj won bronze. He then had a similar slow off-the-block start in the junior final, but quickly made ground, staying in touch with silver winner Nikhil Saroha of Uttar Pradesh (U.P) who was on a start-to-finish mission. His patience finally paid off after the 21st shot as Nikhil blinked with an 8.5, handing the senior pro an easy double in the end. Varun's score in the senior final was 238, while he was clearly more confident in the junior final resulting in greater accuracy and a final tally of 246.2. Pradhyumn also rounded off a fruitful day with a second medal, a bronze in the junior men's air pistol. The youth final saw a UP 1-2 when Chirag Sharma overcame the 14-year-old cynosure of all eyes Dev Pratap by a margin of 1.3 after 24 shots. Chirag finished with 241.8. Rajasthan's Mayank Choudhary won bronze. Haryana, Rajasthan and Maharashtra are 1-2-3 on the medal tally at the pistol nationals with 23, 22 and 13 golds won respectively. (ANI)
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