Ratna shines, Asif falters

Sharmin Akhter Ratna shone in the 10m Air Rifles event of the IFIC 4th National Airgun Championship while Asif Hossain Khan disappointed in his favourite event at the National Shooting Complex in Gulshan yesterday.
Ratna, a gold medallist in the SA Games and Commonwealth Shooting Championship, produced a brilliant performance to win the 10m Air Rifles event with a score of 498.6 out of 509 but Asif, also a gold medallist in the 2002 Commonwealth Games as well as the 2004 SA Games, frustrated once again as he finished fourth with a miserable score of 685.1 out of 709.
Ratna, who is set to take part in the Asian Shooting Championship in a bid to earn a 2012 Olympics place, had a good start in the qualification after scoring 396 out of 400, which helped her stay on top as Suraiya and Tripti shot 394 and 393 respectively.
Tripti, who will also take part in the Asian Shooting Championship along with Ratna, Sadia Sultana and Sharmin Akter, proved her mettle in the shoot-off to score 104 out of 109, 1.6 points more than Ratna. However, the former BKSP student had to be content with a silver medal as she notched up a total of 497 points, 1.6 less than Ratna.
Despite having scored one point more than Tripti in the qualification, Suraiya failed to keep up the momentum in the play-off after scoring 102.5 and thus finished third with a total score of 496.5.
In the men's 10m Air Rifles event, Jessimuzzaman, a student of BKSP, won the gold with a score of 691.3 (589 qualification and 102.3 shoot-off), Abdullah Hel Baki won silver with a score of 689.8 (586 qualification and 103.8 shoot-off) while Anjan Kumar Singha bagged bronze scoring 687.9 (588 qualification and 99.9 shoot-off).
Jessimuzzaman's feat helped BKSP Shooting Club emerge champions with three gold, two silver and four bronze medals while Army Shooting Association finished behind second with two gold and three silver.