The Hindu : Shooting: Deepali pips Anjali for gold

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 21, 2002

Sport

Sport - National Games

Shooting: Deepali pips Anjali for gold

By D. Ravi Shankar

HYDERABAD Dec. 20. Deepali Deshpande extended her rivalry with Anjali Vedpathak Bhagwat into the 50m rifle three-position event in the National Games and this time held her nerve to win by a cose margin (.8). Deepali, along with A.P. Subbaiah and Satguru Dass (both of Services) established new records in their respective events. In the 25mrapid fire pistol event Jaspal Rana just about squeaked home edging out Ram Kishan (SSCB) in a thriller.

Deepali Deshpande had a one-point lead over Anjali when the ladies completed their qualifying rounds. Raj Kumari and Anjali had tied scores in the qualifier and Anjali was shooting from lane three.

The contest was keenly watched by a number of spectators and the ten series shots in standing position saw the top three trying to make each shot count. Deepali took her time to shoot (within the 75 seconds allotted to each shooter) and spent time focussing on her aim and steadying her hands.

Both Deepali and Anjali shot 9.1 on the final shot giving the former a close victory. It was celebration time for Deepali as she planted a kiss on her daughter. Deepali had taken a break from shooting for the past couple of years to look after her new born. It was great comeback for the Maharashtra shooter only recently resuming training.

A.P. Subbaiah's domination in the 50 metre three position for men continued and the Services sharpshooter seemed to be challenging himself in the event. Subbaiah eclipsed his own National Games record set last year at Mohali by a wide margin.

The same was the case with another Army marksman, Satguru Dass in the free rifle prone event. Satguru had a comfortable lead over Vishwajeet Shinde who eventually had to stave off a belated bid by T.C. Palangappan for the silver. The issue was decided on the last shot with Vishwajeet winning by point one (.1) in the final score.

Jaspal Rana won the 25 metre rapid fire pistol event just about holding off Ram Kishan's spirited bid. The best display in this event however came from Tamil Nadu's Sumeet Sanghavi who climbed the rung in the finals to take the third spot. Sumeet was lying in the sixth position barely beating Ashok Pandit to make the qualifiers. His accuracy in the final round however took him up to the bronze medal.

The results: 50 metre Rifle 3 position (men): 1. A.P. Subbaiah (SSCB) 1254.7 (NGR), 2. Fariduddin (SSCB) 1246.4, 3. Joydeep Bannerjee (Ben) 1236.3; Team: 1 Services Sports Control Board (T.C. Palangappan 1127, A.P. Subbaiah 1161, Fariduddin 1147) 3435, 2 Tamil Nadu 3391, 3. Maharashtra 3360).

50 metre rifle 3 position (women): Deepali Deshpande 675.9, 2. Anjali Vedpathak Bhagwat (AP) 675.1, 3. Raj Kumari (MP) 674.5; Team: Andhra Pradesh (Anjali V Bhagwat 578, Kuheli Gangulee 571, Leena Shirodkar 561) 1710, 2. Maharashtra 1708, 3. Madhya Pradesh 1692.

25 metre rapid fire pistol (men): Jaspal Rana (UA) 665.8, 2. Ram Kishan (SSCB) 665.5, 3. Sumeet Sanghavi (TN) 658.6; Team: 1. Services Sports Control Board 1679, 2. Maharashtra 1667, 3. Tamil Nadu 1660.

Free Rifle Prone: 1. Satguru Dass (SSCB) 694.7, 2. Vishwajeet Shinde (Mah) 691.7, 3. T.C Palangappan (SSCB) 691.6.

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