Anjum Moudgil, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar continue India’s 50m Rifle 3P success

Anjum Moudgil, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar continue India’s 50m Rifle 3P success

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar won gold while Anjum Moudgil won bronze at the Changwon World Cup as India’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions shooters continued on the medal streak that started at last month’s World Cup at Baku.

Instances of Indians winning 50m Rifle 3P medals on the international stage are still relatively rare compared to those from 10m Air Rifle or Air Pistol.

For Anjum, on a comeback trail after the disappointing Tokyo Olympics, this was a second consecutive World Cup podium in a row after winning silver at Baku.

FS Video

She finished third in the ranking round with a score of 402.9 behind eventual silver medalist Barbara Gambaro of Italy (403.4) and gold medalist Anna Janssen of Germany (407.7). Janssen beat Gambaro 16-10 in the gold medal match.

Anjum had qualified in fifth place yesterday with a score of 586. Janssen (590) topped qualifications while Gambaro (585) managed to qualify in eighth place. The field included Tokyo Olympic finalists Ziva Dvorsak and Jolyn Beer.

The other Indians Sift Kaur Samra (582) and Ashi Chouksey (578) could not qualify for the finals.

Aishwary tops from start to finish

Tokyo 2020 Olympian Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar had a dream run in the Men’s 50m Rifle 3P competition at Changwon. The 21-year old topped the qualifications with a score of 593, topped the ranking round with 409.8 and then beat Hungarian Zalan Pekler 16-12 in the gold medal match.

Interestingly both Hungarians Pekler (589, 406.7) and bronze medalist Istvan Peni (589, 406.4) finished second and third in the qualification round and were neck-and-neck in the ranking round. Another Indian Olympian Chain Singh was eliminated 7th in the ranking round after qualifying with 586.

The field included Tokyo bronze medalist Milenko Sebic. Sanjeev Rajput of India failed to qualify after a score of 577. The cut-off was 586.

Manu finishes fourth in Women’s 25m Pistol

Manu Bhaker’s woes in Women’s 25m Pistol finals continued even after the change of formats as she was eliminated fourth in the medal match. Manu fell behind the top three after missing four targets in the second series itself.

The gold was won by Singapore’s Teh Xiu Hong who had a smooth run to a final total of 28 points. Tokyo Olympic finalist Mathilde Lamolle fought off the challenge from another Singaporean Teo Shun Xie to win the silver.

Manu had qualified in seventh place with a score of 581. She then did well to top her ranking match ahead of Teh, Austria’s Sylvia Steiner and two-time Olympic finalist Tanyaporn Prucksakorn of Thailand. Former Olympic champion Anna Korakaki and Hungarian Veronika Major were among those who could not make it to the medal round.

India’s Rhythm Sangwan (577) could not qualify for the ranking round. The cut-off was 580.

Manu had earlier posted a less-than-impressive score of 573 in Women’s 10m Air Pistol in the RPO category.

India win team medals

India qualified for all four gold medal matches in the non-Olympic Airgun Team events but could only win a solitary gold.

The Men’s 10m Air Rifle team of Shahu Tushar Mane, Arjun Babuta and Paarth Makhija defeated hosts Korea 17-15 in the gold medal match. Shahu had earlier won gold along with Mehuli Ghosh in 10m AR Mixed Team while Arjun had won the gold in Men’s 10m AR individual.

India had to settle for silver in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle Team, Women’s 10m Air Pistol Team and Men’s 10m Air Pistol Team competitions.

India also won a silver in Men’s Trap Team and Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Team.

Nevertheless India are still on top of the medal tally with 4 golds, 5 silvers and 2 bronzes for a total of 11 medals. Hosts Korea are second with 3 golds and a silver.