Ketan malik

National Shooting Championship Competitions: Haryana’s Ketan Malik overcame a strong field which consisted of Paris Olympic double medallist Manu Bhaker and Asian Games champion Palak Gulia to be crowned as the winner in the Women’s 10m Air Pistol (APW) event at the 68th National Shooting Championship Competitions currently underway at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi on Thursday.

Ketan struck the gold with 240.0, ahead of Meenu Pathak of Delhi, who took silver with 238.4, and Surbhi Rao, who claimed bronze with 219.5. In the Junior Women’s category, Vanshika Chaudhary from Uttar Pradesh emerged on top, edging Anjali Shekhawat by 0.2 for gold, while Palak Gulia secured bronze, and Army Marksmanship Unit’s Lakshita Bishnoi claimed the youth title after a narrow 0.6 victory over Rashmika Sahgal, with Sanskriti Bana completing the podium.

The final followed an extensive qualification phase that saw over 900 shooters compete across 39 relays. Palak Gulia topped the qualification with 582-24x. She was joined at the top by Manu Bhaker, who also shot 582, finishing second on inner-10 count with 19x. Ketan qualified third with 581-16x, while Mohini Singh (580 -19x), Anjali Shekhawat (579 -22x), Surbhi Rao (579 - 22x), Anjali Choudhary (579 -19x), and Meenu Pathak (579 -14x) completed the list of finalists.