Ramita Jindal usurped the air rifle gold from Devanshi Katara in the Khelo India Youth Games at the Dr. Karni Singh Range here on Thursday.
It was a fitting climax to the shooting competition, as Ramita, the World Championship junior bronze medallist, came up with five incredible shots when Devanshi was on the door step of victory.
Ramita recovered from the brink of defeat at 8-14, with a tied shot, that made it 9-15.
With Devanshi needing one point for victory, Ramita shot 10.7, 10.8, 10.7 and 10.5 to sail to an improbable victory, with every better shot fetching her two points. Devanshi did not shoot badly, only that her shots of 10.5, 10.4, 10.2 and 10.4 in that order, proved inferior in comparison.
The 18-year-old Ramita had done well to top the second stage and qualify for the gold match, 0.3 point better than Devanshi. The latter was 0.4 point behind Ramita in the first stage of qualification.
There was pressure on Ramita as it was Devanshi who released the shot first every time in the gold duel, but Ramita executed a remarkable series in which all her 16 shots were 10 or more.
It was another gold for Haryana, while Devanshi fetched silver for Rajasthan. Harshita Garg won the bronze for Haryana, ahead of Yana Rathore, qualification topper Khushi Saini (625.7), Suhani Rane, Palak Sachdeva and Aneesha Sharma.
The results: Youth women’s air rifle: 1. Ramita Jindal 17 (260.0) 624.8; 2. Devanshi Katara 15 (259.7) 624.4; 3. Harshita Garg 258.8 (625.2).
