Bengaluru, DHNS: Karnataka’s Mayur Bhanu was in top form as he clinched a gold medal in the junior 50M prone rifle (civilian) event at the 59th National Shooting Championships in New Delhi on?Sunday.

Though the Bengaluru boy finished second behind Swapnil Kusale of the Railways, who scored 623.8, Bahnu with 611.9 points was awarded the gold since the Railway’s shooter has an international medal to his name, which disqualifies him for a medal in the civilian category.

“It’s very satisfying to win this medal. I had put in a lot of effort going into this meet,” Bhanu told Deccan Herald.

“Usually I don’t get enough time to practice given my studies and many other reasons. But before this meet, I made sure that I got enough training under my belt,” said Bhanu, a law student at Christ University.

Starting on the back foot, that saw him shoot 100.5 and 99.4 in the first two series, Bhanu made a strong return as he picked up pace to strike 101.8 and 102.7 in the following two attempts.

Meanwhile his closest challenger was Kerala’s Abijith TH who saw his form take a dip as his shots showed a downward trend. He shot 101.6 in the first series, followed it up with a 104.0 in his second try, only to drop down to 102.5 and 99.9 in the following two attempts.

Bhanu, however, made the most of his opponent’s mistakes to fire in 104.1 and 103.4 in his final two tries to pocket the yellow metal.

Abijith settled for the silver medal with 610.7 points, while Ayachi Pruthviraj of Gujarat took the bronze with 609.1 points.

“It was disappointing initially. In fact, I had given up hopes after the second series. I came into the competition with great hopes and that put me under pressure. That showed in my game too as my shot were far from the target. But later, my dad told me get rid of the expectation and play my natural game. And then things began to change,” explained Bhanu.

There was more delight for the Bengaluru based shooter as he teamed up with Rakesh Manpat and Sashi Kiran to win a silver medal for the State in the team segment of the 50M prone rifle for civilians.

Photo credit: DHNS