[highlights]
The Indian contingent once again dominated the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup that concluded on Thursday in Putian, China by finishing at the top of the medal tally. With a total of 5 gold medals, 2 silvers and 1 bronze, India once again reclaimed the top spot at the event.
India had fielded a total of 14 shooters, their biggest ever contingent, at the event. Out of these, nine had already received an Olympic quota. The contingent participated in 10 different Olympic events at the ISSF World Cup.
Manu, Elavenil, Divyansh shine again
Three of India’s shooting sensations, Manu Bhaker, Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar bagged gold medals at the women’s 10m Air Pistol, women’s 10m Air Rifle and men’s 10m Air Rifle events respectively. Manu Bhaker had shattered the junior world record earlier and became the 2nd Indian to ever do so.
The shooters who qualified for individual events were able to participate in the mixed team events. The pairs were determined by random draws.
Shahzar Rizvi partnered with Serbian shooter Arunovic in the 10m air pistol mixed team match, who defeated their Russian and Chinese opponents to secure the bronze medal.
Two Indian shooters were then paired up opposite each other competing for the gold medal. Manu Bhaker and Artem Chernousov were on one side while Saurabh Chaudhary and Anna Korakaki were on the other side. Bhaker and Chernousov came back by shooting 10.6 in their last 2 shots after their opposite pair was initially in the lead. Bhaker secured the gold while Saurabh secured the silver medal for India.
Another pair of Indian shooters Divyansh Singh Panwar and Apurvi Chandela were competing against each other to secure the gold and silver medals. Apurvi and her partner Zhang Changhong won the silver medal while Divyansh Singh and his partner Snjezana Pejcic won the gold medal for India.
The final tally of medals does not include mixed events. The final tally for India in individual events stood at 3 golds, with an additional 2 gold medals, 2 silver medals and a bronze medal to complete India’s total tally.
