New Delhi, Jun 15 (IANS): Uttar Pradesh (UP) shooter Varun Tomar, an ISSF World Cup stage medallist for India earlier this year, claimed the men's 10m Air Pistol title at the ongoing 21st Kumar Surendra Singh Memorial Shooting Championship, being held at Bhopal's M.P. State Shooting Academy ranges.

Varun shot 241.9 in the final to pip Army's Shravan Kumar who was 0.7 behind in a silver-winning effort with 241.2. Sagar Dangi, also belonging to the Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) which had as many as six-shooters in the final, came third with 219.4, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) informed in a release on Thursday.

Shravan was the best shooter in qualifying with a score of 584, a clear two points ahead of teammate Ayush Chawla, who finished with 582. Varun qualified fifth with a modest 581in the huge 400+ field.

In the final, however, he showed his international class, beginning proceedings with a perfect 10.9 for impact. A 9.1 in his 17th shot, allowed Shravan to catch up and even take the lead in the end stages.

As Sagar was eliminated in third place, Shravan went into the final two shots of the 24-shot final, 0.6 ahead of Varun, however, he was unable to hit the 10-ring as Varun shot 10.4 and 9.4 to claim victory. Shravan's final two shots were scored 9.6 and 8.9.

In the junior men's 10m Air Pistol, Haryana's Kamaljeet was the winner, finishing with a score of 243.7 in the final. Karnataka's Jonathan Antony was second while UP's Yash Tomar was third.