Haryana teenager Suruchi was the star of the day with a triple gold performance in the women’s air pistol competitions in the ongoing 67th National Shooting Championship Competitions (NSCC) 2024 at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in the national capital on Friday.
The daughter of an army veteran from Jhajjar, who began shooting sports five years ago in the same range as double Olympic bronze medallist Manu Bhaker, won her first-ever senior national title, with a score of 243.1 in the women’s 10m air pistol final, before going on to add the junior and youth crowns for a memorable nationals outing. In the process, she bettered the silver effort in women’s air pistol, achieved in the previous nationals.
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Suruchi went into the eight-woman final as the in-form shooter, topping the qualifications with a solid 585. It was a field full of seasoned pros, among them Olympian Rhythm Sangwan, reigning Asian Games champion Palak, India international Divya T.S., and junior world champion Sainyam to name a few.
The Haryana girl, however, shot confidently throughout the 24-shot final staying in contention from shot one. She grew stronger as eliminations began after the 12th shot, firing just three mid to high 9s in the last 12 to leave state mate Rhythm a huge 5.7 behind in the second. Krushnali Rajput of Maharashtra was third.
Although Chandigarh’s Sainyam gave her a tougher fight in the junior final, she still left her 3.4 behind to clinch that with 245.1. Her most brutal win was in the youth final however, her score of 245.5, an enormous 6.3 ahead of silver winning Sanskriti Bana of Uttar Pradesh. Palak won bronze.
The star of the day said after her matches, “It is certainly a most memorable day. It was my first senior national title and to win three golds in a day is really special. Shooting, shooting, and only shooting is what is in my mind in the days to come.”
