National Games: Suruchi, rising star of pistol shooting

A Phogat is making waves in Indian sport, but not in wrestling.

- Avishek Roy

NEW DELHI: Suruchi Phogat's early brush with wrestling ended with injury, and she shifted to shooting for good. The 18-year-old pistol shooter is the find of the season following her spectacular performances in the domestic circuit.

On Wednesday at the Trishul Shooting Range in Dehradun, Suruchi shot gold in 10m air pistol at the National Games, beating a strong field that included Asian Games champion Palak Gulia and the seasoned Rahi Sarnobat, who is on a comeback. The teenager fired a brilliant 245.7, leaving Palak (243.6) second. Palak and Suruchi were neck-and-neck till the 16th shot and were tied at the top position with 162.3 points.

Showing no signs of nerves, Suruchi's next two shots were near-perfect 10.7 and 10.8 that gave her the edge. She never looked back from there. She topped qualification with a score of 585.