The 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team of Shahu Tushar Mane and Mehuli Ghosh clinched India’s second gold medal at the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Korea by beating the formidable Hungarian team of Istvan Peni and Eszter Meszaros by a score of 17-13.
The Indians had ensured themselves of at least a silver by topping the qualification stage yesterday. The team had scored a whopping 634.3 in qualifications compared to Hungary’s 630.3. Israel and Czech Republic won the two bronze medals on offer.
The other, more fancied Indian team of Elavenil Valarivan and 10m AR Men gold medalist Arjun Babuta failed to make it to the medal matches.
Interestingly both Shahu and Mehuli had won the silver medal at the 2018 Youth Olympics. Both had missed out on qualifying in their respective individual 10m AR events earlier at the Changwon WC.
Shiva-Palak win bronze in pistol
The 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team of Shiva Narwal and Palak won bronze by blanking Kazakhstan (Valeriy Rakhimzhan and Irina Loktionova) 16-0.
The gold was won by a Serbian team comprised of Olympic medalist Damir Mikec and Olympic finalist Zorana Arunovic. They beat Greece (Anna Korakaki and Dionysios Korakakis) 17-13. The other bronze was won by Italy who beat hosts Korea 16-12.
The Indians had finished third in qualifications yesterday with a combined score of 574-19x. Serbia topped with 584-20x while Greece scored 579-19x.
The other Indian team of Naveen and Rhythm Sangwan finished eighth with 570-18x and were out of the reckoning for a medal.
Men’s Trap Team guarantees another medal
Another medal for India is guaranteed via the Men’s Trap Team of Vivaan Kapoor, Prithviraj Tondaiman and Bhowneesh Mendiratta. The trio assured themselves of a place in the gold medal match by topping qualifications with a combined score of 213. They will take on Slovakia who shot 212.
Individual finalists fail to make it count
India had as many as five individual finalists across Men’s and Women’s 10m Air Pistol and Men’s Trap but none could convert a finals spot into a medal.
The three Indians in the Men’s 10m AP ranking round (Naveen, Shiva Narwal and debutante Sagar Dangi) were successively eliminated in the fourth, fifth and sixth place. The field included Olympic medalists Damir Mikec and Luca Tesconi who won gold and silver respectively. Bronze was won by Italian Paolo Monna.
In Women’s AP, debutante Yuvika Tomar was eliminated seventh in the ranking round. Zorana Arunovic won gold beating Taipei’s Ai Wen Yu 16-4. Veronika Major of Hungary won bronze.
Vivaan Kapoor did well to qualify for the Men’s Trap ranking round but failed to make it to the medal stage. China’s Qi Ying defeated Italy’s Lorenzo Ferrari 29-27 while bronze was won by another Italian Daniele Resca.
Serbia lead the medal standings so far with three golds. India are second with two golds and a bronze.
