Ameerah Arshad, Zuhair Khan and Tilottama Sen shine at national shooting championships
Haryana’s Ameerah Arshad won gold in the 10m Air Rifle Women final, while Uttar Pradesh’s Zuhair Khan clinched the men’s trap title at the 68th National Shooting Championships. Karnataka’s Tilottama Sen secured a golden double in junior and youth women’s events
Hyderabad: Haryana’s Ameerah Arshad delivered a composed performance under pressure to clinch the gold medal in a dramatic 10m Air Rifle Women final at the 68th National Shooting Championship Competitions (Rifle), held at the Madhya Pradesh State Shooting Academy in Bhopal.
She edged past Railways’ Rajshree Anilkumar Sancheti by a razor-thin margin of 0.1 point. Later in the day, at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi, Zuhair Khan of Uttar Pradesh rose to the occasion to win the men’s trap gold at the 68th NSCC (Shotgun) with 43 hits.
Ameerah finished the women’s final with a score of 251.9, narrowly ahead of Sancheti, who settled for silver on 251.8, while Chhattisgarh’s Pranju Shree Somani secured the bronze medal with 230.5. Tilottama Sen finished fourth with 208.9, followed by Kajal Kumari (187.9) and Sakshi Sunil Padekar (166.2).
Haryana’s Ramita finished seventh with 145.1, while qualification topper Prerana Padmakar Morey, who had earlier led the field with 632.5, finished eighth with 122.7.
Prerana Padmakar Morey and Pranju Shree Somani jointly topped the standings in qualification with identical scores of 632.5, followed closely by Sakshi Sunil Padekar (632.1). Ameerah qualified fourth with 631.5, ahead of Kajal Kumari (631.0), Tilottama Sen (630.8), Ramita (630.8), and Sancheti (630.7).
Zuhair Khan takes men’s trap gold in New Delhi
At the shotgun range in New Delhi, junior men’s trap bronze medallist Zuhair finished on top in the men’s trap final with 43 hits, adding a first senior national title to his tally. Uttarakhand’s Shapath Bhardwaj secured silver with 40 hits, while Olympian Kynan Chenai claimed bronze with 33 hits. Ahvar Rizvi finished fourth with 26 hits, followed by Vivaan Kapoor (22) and Udayvir Singh Jajee (19).
Vivaan Kapoor had earlier topped qualification with 121, while Zuhair finished second on 120 +3, ahead of Ahvar Rizvi, who also shot 120 but finished behind on shoot-off (+2). Shapath Bhardwaj qualified fourth with 119 +3, ahead of Kynan Chenai on 119 +2, while Udayvir Singh Jajee completed the finalists with 118 +6. Mohd Asad Sultan narrowly missed the cut after a shoot-off despite scoring 118 +3.
In the men’s trap team event, Uttar Pradesh clinched gold with an aggregate of 345 through the combined efforts of Ahvar Rizvi, Mohd Asad Sultan (118), and Rayyan Rizvi (107). Punjab secured silver with 342, while Uttarakhand also finished on 342 to take bronze.
Junior and Youth Women: Tilottama Sen’s golden double
In the 10m Air Rifle Junior Women final, Karnataka’s Tilottama Sen carried her strong qualification form into the final to claim gold with 253.1. Maharashtra’s Samiksha Subhash Patil finished second with 250.0, while Haryana’s Ramita added bronze with 230.0. Ameerah Arshad finished fourth with 208.2, followed by Pranju Shree Somani (187.7), Tanishkaa Kumari Pillai (164.3), Kajal Kumari (144.8), and Kopal Dubey (123.1).
Tilottama completed a memorable day by clinching her second gold in the Youth Women’s 10m Air Rifle final, finishing on 251.6. Ameerah Arshad impressed again to secure silver with 251.4, while Maharashtra’s Avantika Rajendra Shelke claimed bronze with 229.4. Pranju Shree Somani finished fourth with 207.5.
In the team events of 10m Air Rifle, Haryana dominated the Women’s Team competition, winning gold with an aggregate score of 1892.7, ahead of Railways (1886.0) and Madhya Pradesh (1884.3). Haryana also topped the Junior Women’s Team standings with the same aggregate, followed by Karnataka (1887.1) and Gujarat (1876.9). Karnataka claimed the Youth Women’s Team gold with 1887.1, while Haryana (1885.9) and Madhya Pradesh (1881.7) completed the podium.
