KSSMSC 2025: Shambhavi Kshirsagar takes double gold in air rifle

New Delhi, April 26 (IANS) Shambhavi Kshirsagar of Maharashtra overcame world championship medalists, Olympic finalists, and national champions on her way to winning the women’s 10m air rifle event of the 23rd Kumar Surendra Singh Memorial Shooting Championship (23rd KSSM), at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range here.

The 16-year-old, who was fifth in the Junior World Cup in Lima last year, topped the qualification stage with a high 633.5, before closing with a brilliant 10.8 for her last shot of the 24-shot final, to outgun Haryana’s Ramita, a Paris Olympic finalist. World Championship bronze medallist Mehuli Ghosh of West Bengal won bronze.

She was in fact the star of Saturday at the Karni Singh Shooting Range, coming back later to take the silver in the junior women’s event and a second gold in the youth women’s competition.

The one to cherish would be the senior women’s crown surely, where she found herself alongside Mehuli, Ramita, Ananya Naidu, the recently-crowned national champion, and Shreya Agrawal, a Junior World Championship medalist, among others.

Heading into the final two shots of the 24-shot decider, it was Ramita who led by 0.1. Both shooters then shot identical 10.2s for their 23rd shot, but then Shambhavi’s final salvo left the Olympian way short with a total of 252.1 to the winner’s 252.9. Mehuli had bowed out after the 22nd with 231.0.

Ramita, however, got one back on Shambhavi, winning the next junior women’s final over her by a bigger margin of 1.5. Manya Mittal of Uttar Pradesh was third.

To Shambhavi’s credit, she did not let that deter her, and displaying determination, she came back yet again to take the youth women’s crown, this time over Nidhi Mittal of Karnataka with a tally of 253.6. Nidhi was 1.8 behind while Madhya Pradesh’s Gautami Bhanot was third.

The senior qualification field attracted a total of 411 shooters.

--IANS

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