South Asian Games gold medallist Shakil Ahmed grabbed his first gold medal in domestic circuit as the 21-year-old shooter from Bangladesh Army won the men's 10m air pistol event of the Beximco 28th National Shooting Championship at the National Shooting Complex in Gulshan yesterday.

Shakil, who had won gold medal in the 50m air pistol event in the SA Games earlier this year, outshone teammate and defending champion Shahadat Ahmed with a score of 192.3 points. Shahadat scored 3.5 points less to settle for the silver in the eight-shooter final round.

“After winning gold in the SA Games, I have always been under pressure to produce good scores and yesterday I started poorly, but later on I recovered it to win my first gold medal in national championships,” Shakil said over phone adding that his main target is to win gold in his favourite 50m air pistol event which will be held on August 31.

In the junior event of 10m air pistol, Anwar Hossain and Sabbir Alamin won gold and silver respectively while Rawnak Chowdhury, son of celebrated shooters Saiful Alam Rinki and Sabrina Sultana, finished 15th among 18 shooters. 

In the 50m rifle three position, Towfiq Shahriar won gold scoring 1143 points while Abdullah Hel Baki and Yousuf Ali won silver and bronze scoring 1123 points and 1121 points respectively.