India’s world No 1 Divyansh Singh Panwar and Arjun Babuta entered the eight-man final in the men’s 10 metres air rifle event on the opening day of the World Cup here at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Ranges. In the 60-shot qualification round, teenager Panwar, who has won an Olympics quota place, shot 629.1 points to finish sixth. The 22-year-old Babuta scored 631.8 points to earn a third spot.
But Jakarta Asian Games medallist Deepak Kumar, the third shooter in fray, was off target as he finished in 12th place. The 33-year-old Air Force shooter scored 626.4. He had got an Olympics quota place in the 2019 qualification cycle. Since January, he has been out of form due to a skin ailment and started normal training only in the first week of March.
Korea’s Taeyun Nam exhibited good form to finish atop the field with 632.1 points. Israel’s Sergey Richter was second with a score of 631.8 points.
Ukraine’s Oleh Tsarkov was fourth with a score of 630 points. Hungary’s Istvan Peni ranked 3rd in the global ranking shot 629.1 points to finish fifth.
Lucas Kozeniesky of the USA was seventh with 628.8. Korea’s Byounggil Choo was the eighth and last shooter to make cut for the final.
Hungary’s shooting legend Peter Sidi too missed the final. He shot 625 to finish 15th in the highly competitive field of 39 shooters.
In the Women’s 10M Air Rifle, world number four and Tokyo quota holder Anjum Moudgil was the lone Indian to qualify. She shot 629.6 to come in second in the 48-strong field, behind Hungary’s Denes Eszter who shot 629.8.
World number one Elavenil Valarivan of India missed out, however, finishing 12thwith a score of 626.7. So did her teammate Apurvi Chandela who finished 26thwith 622.8.
The world-ranking quota in the Women’s event is up for a fight though, with Dane Ibsen Rikke Maeng (world rank 11) and American Mary Tucker (world rank 20) making it to the finals among others.
Both the Men’s and Women’s 10M Air Rifle finals are scheduled for Saturday afternoon. Saturday has four blockbuster finals lined up with the Men’s and Women’s 10M Air Pistol finals also scheduled on the day.