India yet to reach medal round at Putian World Cup Final 

It was a second consecutive day of near misses for India as their search for a first medal round at the ongoing International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Final (WCF) Rifle/Pistol in Putian, China, continued after two days of competition.

After Sanjeev Rajput on day one, it was Manu Bhaker in the Women’s 25m Pistol, who missed out making the final by a point on Wednesday. Manu shot 583 in qualification, the same score as two other competitors, one of whom made the finals with Manu losing out on lesser number of inner 10s.

In fact both Manu and Australian Elena Galiabovitch not only had the same score, but also the same number of 17 shots in the inner 10 ring. German Doreen Vennekamp, who also finished with 583, claimed the eighth and final qualifying spot with 23 inner 10s to her credit.

Among other Indians on show, Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat shot 569 for an 18thplace finish in the Women’s 25m Pistol while Anish Bhanwala shot 578 in the Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol to end in 10thposition. The top six went through to the finals in the Men’s event.

China’s Jingjing Zhang claimed a third career WCF gold medal, getting the better of defending champion Kim Minjung of Korea 37-33 in the final. German Monika Karsch won bronze.

In the Men’s Rapid Fire Frenchman Clement Bessaguet struck gold, overcoming Olympic Champion Christian Reitz of Germany 32-31 in the final. Jean Quiquampoix of France won bronze.

Day three will see five Indians take the field with Manu again featuring in the Women’s 10m Air Pistol along with Yashaswini Singh Deswal. In the Men’s 10m Air Pistol, three Indians have made the cut and Shazar Rizvi, Abhishek Verma and Saurabh Chaudhary will aim for the coveted WCF glass globes for India.