New Delhi [India], March 21 (ANI): Hosts India on Sunday climbed on top of the medals tally of the ongoing International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun stage at New Delhi’s Dr. Karni Singh Shooting range.
The Indian contingent added four more medals to their kitty, including two gold and a historic bronze in the Women’s Skeet event. They now have three medals of every colour, for a total of nine medals.
The USA is second with the same number of golds as India, but with only two more silvers at this stage, have a tally of five medals. The two golds that India won on Sunday came in the Men’s and Women’s 10M Air Pistol team events. The women went first when the trio of Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini Deswal, and Shri Nivetha beat Poland convincingly by a margin of 16-8 in the final.
In this new format, the three shooters of each team shoot a single shot and the team with the higher combined tally get two points. If there is a tie, then the teams get one point each. The first team to 16 points or more, wins the match.
India’s second gold of the day came when Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma, and Shahzar Rizvi, got the better of Vietnam 17-11, in the Men’s 10M Air Pistol final.
There was also history created at the shotgun ranges, when Ganemat Sekhon became the first Indian woman to win an ISSF World Cup medal in Women’s Skeet. She won bronze, finishing with a score of 40 in the final. Earlier, she had also shot a career-best score of 117 out of 125 in qualifying, to make it to the six-woman final.
Amber Hill of Great Britain won gold with a finals score of 51. She had to win it in a shoot-off though, after tying with Kazakhstan’s silver winner Zoya Kravchenko on the same score after 60-shots.
Ganemat in fact is also the only Indian woman to win a medal in Women’s Skeet at the Junior ISSF World Cup. India’s fourth medal of the day came in the Men’s 10M Air Rifle where they were up against the USA in the gold medal match. This was the most exciting of the finals on the day as the hosts at one stage were up 8-2, but the Americans fought back brilliantly and tied the match at 14-14. In the deciding single-shot series, they piped India to win 16-14.
The other nation to win big on the day was Denmark, as they won both the Women’s 10M Air Rifle team event as well as the Men’s Skeet gold for a tally of three Golds thus far.
In the Women’s 10M Air Rifle team, they beat USA 16-8. In Men’s Skeet, Jesper Hensen shot 58 out of 60 in the final to strike Gold. Saif Bin Futais of UAE won Silver, while Nasser Al-Attiya won Bronze. (ANI)
