Lakshya Cup: Himanshu Talan beats Mohit Gowda

Himanshu Talan beat Mohit Gowda by 2.2 points to win the 14th RR Lakshya Cup air rifle competition at the Karnala Sports Academy in Panvel on Sunday.

The title fetched a cash prize of Rs.150,000 for the army shooter.

In the mixed competition open for both men and women, Gurjant Singh won the bronze ahead of Ananya Naidu and Sonam Maskar. Qualification topper Anannya (631.9) finished eighth behind Sandeep and Kiran Jadhav, the other two finalists.

Dronacharya awardee and Olympic finalist Suma Shirur had promoted the gender neutral concept way back in 2008, keeping 60 shots for the combined event, when women shot only 40 as per the international rules then.

Only in 2017 did the international shooting federation, ISSF make it equal for men and women with 60 shots, and eventually brought in mixed pairs competitions in the Tokyo Olympics.

Over the years, some of the top shooters like Deepak Kumar, Divyansh Singh Panwar, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Rudrankksh Patil and Shriyanka Sadangi have used the Lakshya Cup as a stepping stone for their glittering career.

In the junior section, Ojasvi Thakur won the title, a half point ahead of Talwar Singh, and pocketed Rs.75,000. Ajay Malik won the bronze, while qualification topper Parth Mane (631.7) placed sixth.

The High Performance Director of the National team, Dr. Pierre Beauchamp, was the chief guest.