National Shooting C'ships: Shahu Mane wins first senior national gold

Shahu Tushar Mane clinched the gold medal in the men's 10m Air Rifle competition, edging out his opponents for his first senior national title, at the MP State Academy Shooting Range, in Bhopal on Monday. 

The competition saw Mane deliver a near-perfect performance in the edge-of-the-seat 24-shot final, winning by the smallest of margins.

The 22-year-old from Kolhapur, representing Indian Railways, shot an impressive series, with all his shots staying above 10.1.

Despite a late surge from Dhanush Srikanth, who finished just 0.1 points behind with 252.2, Mane held his ground.

Srikanth's chances were hampered by a 9.8 in his fifth shot, which proved costly. The two finalists fired identical scores of 10.6 and 10.5 in the final rounds, and Mane confirmed his gold medal with that. 

Rajasthan’s Yash Vardhan took the bronze, finishing ahead of Rudrankksh Patil. 

Meanwhile, Rudrankksh Patil, a former world champion from Maharashtra, captured the spotlight in the junior men’s final by breaking the senior world record in the junior event.

He shot an outstanding 254.9, surpassing the existing senior world record held by Olympic champion Sheng Lihao of China by 0.4 points. Rudrankksh's performance will not be recognised as an official world record since performances at the Nationals are not considered for world records.

Rudrankksh's record-breaking performance saw silver medallist Abishek Sekhar of Karnataka trail by 3.5 points, while Haryana’s Himanshu bagged the bronze medal.

In the men’s 10m Air Rifle Youth event, Himanshu made his mark, winning gold with a score of 253.0.

This victory added to his earlier performance in the competition, where he featured in all three men’s finals.

Madhya Pradesh’s Yash Pandey finished in second, trailing by 2.2, while West Bengal’s Abhinav Shaw took the bronze medal.