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Tribune News Service/PTI
Chandigarh, April 23
For the second consecutive day at the ISSF World Cup in Changwon (South Korea), Indian shooters failed to win a medal. At any other time, it wouldn’t have drawn much attention for the competition at global events is extremely tough. At this World Cup, though, the Indian shooters drawing a blank is a little surprising. Coming as it does immediately after the Commonwealth Games, where the Indian shooters put up a stunning performance, the Indian contingent was expected to put up a fine show but that hasn’t happened.
On Monday, Rahi Sarnobat narrowly missed out on a podium spot after she finished fourth in the women’s 25m pistol event. In the same event, Heena Sidhu finished 37th out of 92 shooters with a qualifying round score of 575, while Annu Raj Singh finished 41st with a score of 573. Incidentally, Heena had won gold in this event at Gold Coast; her failing to make even the final could be seen as a reality check for Indian shooters post the Commonwealth high.
Anyway, Rahi recorded the best finish by an Indian on Day 2 of the competition, scoring 588 out of 600 in the qualification round and missing a medal by a whisker in the eight-woman final. She recorded 26 hits out of the first 40 shots in the 50-shot final to finish one behind eventual bronze medallist Yushi Yao of China. Australia’s Elena Galiabovitch won gold beating Yuemei Lin of China by 3-2 in a shoot-off.
India reached their third final of the competition when the 10m air rifle mixed team pairing of Ravi Kumar and Apurvi Chandela made it to the finals. The pair eventually finished fifth. India’s second team in the event, comprising Deepak Kumar and Mehuli Ghosh, finished eighth.
In the women’s trap event, Shagun Chowdhary was the best Indian, finishing 26th with a score of 108 out of 125 in the qualifying round. Shreyasi Singh, another CWG gold medallist, shot two targets less to finish 33rd, while Seema Tomar finished 47th.
In the men’s trap final, Manavjit Singh Sandhu shot 48 out of 50 to be placed ninth after the first two rounds. The top six will qualify for the final round. Zoravar Sandhu is lying at 13th spot with a score of 47, while Kynan Chenai is at 36th spot.
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