17-year-old Arjun Singh Cheema, a student of Om Prakash Bansal Modern School in Mandi Gobindgram, topped the qualification with 583 points and later by pipped Vijayveer Sidhu in a gripping contest by 0.3 points for the gold.
#Results_KIYG2019 :
Many congratulations to Arjun Singh Cheema(Punjab) for winning gold in the Boys U-21 10m Air Pistol with a score of 241.2.Vijayveer Sidhu (Chandigarh) took silver with 240.9 & Sarabjot(Haryana) took bronze with 218.5.???#Shooting #KheloIndia #KIYG2019?? pic.twitter.com/WteU2qYfGW— Khelo India (@kheloindia) January 14, 2019
Chandigarh twins Vijayveer Sidhu and Udhayveer Sidhu were within a fifth of a point, which is 0.2 points, of winning both the gold medals in shooting at stake at the Khelo India Youth Games on Monday.
But it was World Junior Championship bronze medallist Arjun who interrupted their winning dream and edged out Vijayveer Sidhu in the Under-21 final by a minimal margin. Later, Udhayveer Sidhu won the Under-17 gold comfortably.
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“I am happy with the scores. I hope this gold will help me take my shooting career forward with the best support,’’ said Arjun.
Vijayveer Sidhu made a bid to upstage his rival with two very good shots for 10.5 and 10.7 in the climax moments.
But even though his team-mate got only 9.9 and 9.8 with his last two shots, Cheema had done well from the start of the final to hold on to a victory by a wafer-thin margin (241.2-240.9) in the Under-21 final, it said.
Later, Udhayveer Sidhu made light of qualifying in sixth place and kept challenging leader Rajkanwar Singh, again of Punjab, until he crumbled in the last four shots.
Udhayveer Sidhu trailed till after the 20th shot but followed that up with 10.8, 10.5, 10.3 and 9.3.
Rajkanwar Singh’s meltdown saw him shoot 9.9, 9.1, 9.6 and 9.9 and finish second (238.8-241.1).
The day started on a disappointing note with news of the celebrated world junior and Asian Games champion Saurabh Chaudhry (Uttar Pradesh) deciding against competing here.
The results (finals):
Men junior (under-21) 10m air pistol: 1. Arjun Singh Cheema (Punjab) 241.2; 2. Vijayveer Sidhu (Chandigarh) 240.9; 3. Sarabjot Singh (Haryana) 218.6.
Men under-17: 1. Udhayveer Sidhu 241.1 (562); 2. Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu 238.8 (563); 3. Mukesh Nelavalli 216.7 (560).
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