Pune: Asian Youth bronze medallist pistol shooter Harshada Nithave had a dream run at the Balewadi Shooting Ranges as the Aurangabad girl struck 10m air pistol gold medal ahead of Uttar Pradesh’s Yuvika Tomar and Punjab’s Sweta Devi, in the Khelo India Youth Games Shooting competition here on Tuesday.
Competing in the Women’s Under-21 category, Harshada finished third in qualification but asserted her intention from the start of the final. She led Yuvika by 1.9 points after 10 shots. Her rival reduced it to 0.6 after six more shots. An 8.9 with her 28th let Yuvika down and Harshada held on to win gold.
Harshada who always wanted to be a shooter since childhood rose to prominence when she won Asian Youth bronze medal in 2015. Her father, who runs a canteen business, decided to fund her passion and since then she has collected a host of medals at both school and national level in her age group.
A trainee of MGM Academy in Aurangabad, Harshada trains with Sangram Deshmukh and has participated in six international events so far. Harshada said “I should have won this medal by more points, but somewhere I lost concentration and scored some low scores.”
Esha wins in Under-17
Telangana’s Esha Singh won the girls Under-17 10m air pistol gold medal. Esha scored 241.3 points, including 14 10s. A niggle in the back saw her finish third in qualification with 565, including 12 10s before her physiotherapist worked on her to be ready for the final.
Results: Boys: Under-21: 50m Rifle 3-position: 1. Sartaj Singh Tiwana (Pun) 447.2; 2. Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar (MP) 447.1; 3. Harshit Binjwa (MP) 436.1.
Girls: Under-21: 10m air pistol: 1. Harshada Nithave (Mah) 236.3; 2. Yuvika Tomar (UP) 235.6; 3. Sweta Devi (Pun) 211.8.
Under-17: 10m air pistol: 1. Esha Singh (Tel) 241.3; 2. Anushka Patil (Mah) 234.7; 3. Shravari Bhoir (Mah) 213.6.