Indian Navy ace shooter Kiran Jadhav produced a series of brilliant shots in the Open final round to annex the 10m Air-Rifle Gold at the 15th RR Lakshya Cup tournament that was held at the fully electronic Lakshya Shooting Club at Karnala Sports Academy in Panvel.

The 29-year-old fresh from his triumph in the Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions title at the National Shooting Championship Competitions 2024 which included the likes of Paris 2024 Olympics Bronze winner Swapnil Kusale and Asian Games Silver Medallist Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, accumulated 251.7 points with scores many of which ranged between 10.4 and 10.8.

 A former trainee of the Panvel based Club way back in 2015, Kiran consigned early leaders Gajanan Khandagale and Mohit Gowda both from Maharashtra to second and third place respectively.

Olympic finalist and hot favourite Arjun Babuta who topped the qualification round with score of 634.8, however failed to keep up the momentum and was placed fourth overall, while two other Olympians, Divyansh Singh Panwar (2018 winner), along with reigning national champions Shahu Mane, Ananya Naidu and Sandeep Singh too failed to qualify for the finals.

Having registered his maiden triumph at his alma mater, much to the delight of his first coach Suma Shirur and one of the brain child of the top 20 national ranked Air Rifle Men-Women shooters Invitational Lakshya Cup, Kiran Yadav expressed his happiness to win the elusive Gold after having made it to consecutive final rounds over the last six editions. The thought of enjoying every moment of the sport and going with the flow keeps him motivated to give his best, added Kiran who took home a cash prize of Rs.1,50,000 and the coveted All Silver Rotating Lakshya Cup.

Silver medallist Gajanan Khandagale who scored 250.9 points and Bronze medallist Mohit Gowda with 229.3 points on the other hand were presented Rs.75,000 and Rs.40,000 respectively for the efforts.

Earlier Haryana's Himanshu who earlier had featured in all three Junior Men’s individual finals at the National Shooting Championship for Rifle event held at Bhopal MP last year, before winning the 10m Air Rifle Youth Gold, continued his rich vein of form to clinch the Junior title of the Lakshya Cup ahead of his fellow state mate Shruti Jaglan who came in close second and local favourite Anvii Rathod of Maharashtra.

The 19-year old Himanshu scored 251.5 in the final round 0.9 points ahead of his closest rival Shruti and the Lakshya Shooting Club trainee Anvi Rathod who registered 229.3 points following a good outing in the Qualifiers, where she was placed second among the podium finishers.

Following his win Himanshu was of the opinion that this morale boosting win would inspire do better at the to do better at the international competitions to later this year at the back of narrowly missing out of the selection trial of the Junior World Championship last year. The junior champion took home Rs.75,000, while the second and third placed Shruti and Anvi  had to settle for Rs.40,000 and Rs.20,000 respectively for their efforts.

Suma Shirur, High-Performance Director and founder of Lakshya Shooting Club expressed her satisfaction on the successful conclusion of yet another edition of the  tourney that  has been conducted since 2008 as intra-club affair initially before being upgraded to a all India Invitational one since 2016 following the modernisation of our Shooting Range to a fully electronic world class facility.

The Olympian and former chief coach of the Indian Shooting team who was bestowed with the Coach of the Year (Female) award by the Indian Sports Honours 2024, organized by the Cornerstone Sport further stated  the prime aim of conducting the RR LAKSHYA Cup was to recognize talent, reward excellence, and provide a platform for shooters national and international Indian shooters to showcase their skills at the highest level. The said invitational tournament that has been the very first of its kind in promoting ‘Gender Equality’ is not just a competition but a celebration of hard work, dedication, and the spirit of sportsmanship.

Final Results (10m Air Rifle)

Open Category: 1) Kiran Jadhav (Indian Navy) – 251.7 (630.9); 2) Gajanan Khandagale (Maharashtra) – 250.9 (631.6); 3)  Mohit Gowda (Maharashtra) 229.3 (630.5).

Juniors Category: 1. Himanshu (Haryana) – 251.5 (632.1); 2. Shruti Jaglan (Haryana) – 250.4 (628.9); 3. Anvii Rathod (Maharashtra) – 229.3 (630.4).