Khelo India Youth Games: Zeena Khitta wins gold in 10m air rifle event

After handing over stunning defeat to Mehuli Ghosh and world . 3 Apurvi Chandela at National Shooting Championships in December, Zeena Khitta continued her purple patch by winning gold in 10m air rifle event at Khelo India Youth Games on January 14. She claimed top spot on podium with a score of 251.3, followed by Punjab's Jasmeen Kaur and Sift Kaur bagging silver and bronze respectively.

"I am feeling great. I am very proud of myself. Everything is going right for me at moment,” said Kitta. “ training, hard work, everything is falling into place. We have trials for Indian team this month. I will be focussing on that w," she added.

18-year-old has set an ambitious target to become first Indian woman to shoot down gold in Olympics. She w aims to participate in senior ISSF World Cups and win golds for India. shooter from Himachal Pradesh will also be trying to book a berth in Indian Olympic shooting team this year.

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Bronze medallist Sift Kaur scored 227.6 points to help Punjab, currently at 14th position, improve its tally. Sift started with trap shooting in 2015 but later shifted to 10m air rifle after watching participants at an open district tournament. She wants to perform well in her upcoming 12th board exams and n aim for India shooting team trials.

“So, hopefully, exams go well. I want to be well-settled in life before going for an Olympic medal," said 18-year-old.

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Maharashtra retains top spot

Maharashtra is currently leading medal tally with 28 gold after it won two gold on January 15 while Haryana is close second with 23 gold. Uttar Pradesh and Delhi are in a tough fight to claim top-three spot as both have won 17 gold but former has currently advant of one silver over Delhi. Interestingly, both teams have 48 medals in total since Delhi has one more bronze than Uttar Pradesh.

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(With PTI inputs)