Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary won gold at the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi in 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event. (Source: ISSF screenshot)India weren’t able to add to their tally on the final day of the ISSF World Cup in Beijing, China but it was still enough to see them top the medals tally. With three gold medals and a bronze medal, India finished with four medals to their name. China, second in the tally, had more medals (five) but fewer golds. Neighbours China had two golds, two silvers and one bronze.
For the second consecutive Shooting World Cup, and third time in two years, India have stood at the top.
At the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi earlier in the year, India had jointly topped the standings with Hungary.
In China, Anjum Moudgil and Divyansh Singh Panwar began the medal run with a gold in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team competition. Then, teenaged pairing of Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary won a gold medal in 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Pistol event.
Divyansh then won India’s first individual medal by clinching a silver in the men’s 10m Air Rifle.
On Saturday, Abhishek Verma won India’s third gold of the competition in men’s 10m Air Pistol event.
On the concluding day of the competition, two-time former Olympic champion Maria Grozdeva of Bulgaria and Croatian Rifle legend Snjezana Pejcic won the two scheduled finals – the 25m Pistol and the 50m Rifle 3 Positions (3P).
Indian interest in the event was limited to the qualifying where Manu Bhaker’s finals hopes were dashed when she shot 586 in qualifying to finish 17th.
Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat managed 579 for a 26th place finish while Chinki Yadav, the third Indian in the competition, shot 570 to end in 56th position.
In women’s 3P, three Indians were in contention: N Gaayathri finished 19th with a score of 1169 in qualification, Sunidhi Chauhan shot 1160 to end 42nd and Kajal Saini was placed 60th with a qualification round score of 1142.
