Peoples verdict,by a fair margin

This was Peoples first major tournament after participating as an MQS shooter at the Beijing World Cup in April last year. Between Beijing and New Delhi,the 27-year-old had packed his guns to attend a military training course,and all he got was two months training at the Army8217;s Marksman Unit in Mhau,Madhya Pradesh,in between.

If he was rusty,it didn8217;t show. After having shot 122/125 to be ranked no.1 in the qualifications,including three straights round of 25/25,this little delay didn8217;t throw him off track. A near-perfect round of 24 in the finals and the gold medal,his third at the Nationals,was firmly in the bag.

The quickly you get over those,the better it is, Peoples said of the delay.

First month was basically getting back to shooting after I completed the course. In all its a month of training that I did before coming here. It all depends on the mindset. Nasser Al-Attiyah came back from Dakar rally and he shot a world record. So basically it comes down to your technique and you got to be in a good frame of mind.

While Peoples cruised to first position on the podium,the trailing pack was involved in a memorable fight for the next two places. In the finals,Punjab8217;s Man Singh 121 and Uttar Pradesh8217;s Mairaj Ahmad Khan 120 dropped targets to allow the rest of the field UP8217;s Sheeraj Sheikh 117 and Punjab8217;s Smit Singh 117 who shot a straight 25 to catch up,as all four were tied on 142. Involved in a four-way shoot out for the silver and bronze,Sheeraj was the first to drop out,followed soon by Man Singh. But Smit and Mairaj hung around for a photo-finish. The race was dead even as the duo broke 68 targets between them,before Mairaj dropped one to give Smit the chance to nail the medal.

And he delivered to finish second. Mairaj bhai keeps guiding me and it was tough. I kept my mind away from thinking I am going up against him. I totally enjoyed it, Smit said,of the tight tussle.