ISSF Shooting World Cup: Manu Bhaker and Om Prakash Mitharval clinch gold

Indian teenager Manu Bhaker won her second Gold medal in as many days, partnering Om Prakash Mitharval to clinch the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team title, a day after she won the Women’s 10m Air Pistol individual Gold on her senior World Cup debut. At the end of competition day three of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun stage in Guadalajara, Mexico, India’s medal count stood at three Golds and four Bronze medals for a total of seven, making them sit firmly at the top of the medals tally.

Once again, both Indian entries in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed team event made it through to the medal rounds. Manu and Om Prakash representing India 1, shot 770 in qualification to place second behind the German husband and wife pair of Christian and Sandra Reitz who shot 777 for a qualifications world record score. Mahima Agrawal and Shahzar Rizvi, representing India 2, shot 763 to place fourth and made it to the five team final round from among the 16 competing teams.

In the final, there were three pairs in contention from the very beginning- India 1 represented by Manu and Om Prakash, team Reitz of Germany and the French pair of Celine Goberville and Florian Fouquet. After a sea-saw battle between the three, the Indian and the German pair pulled ahead of the French pair decisively after 38 shots, with the Germans ahead of the Indians. With the final six shots remaining the Germans were ahead of the Indians by 0.1, but Manu and Om Prakash finished strong to decisively clinch the battle after 48 shots, almost a point ahead of the Germans. The final scores in favour of the Indians read 476.1 to 475.2.

Mahima Agrawal and Shahzar Rizvi finished fourth with a score of 372.4 in the finals. Earlier in the day, the pair of Mehuli Ghosh and Deepak Kumar had won a Bronze in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed team event, making it a total of seven medals in three days for India.

In the Women’s Trap, India’s Seema Tomar was the best finisher, shooting 111 in qualifying to end in 15th spot. Shreyasi Singh shot 106 to finish 22nd while Shagun Chowdhary shot 101 to be placed 26th. Also at the end of the first day of the qualification round in Men’s Trap, India’s Kynan Chenai shot 49 out of 50 to lie in 6th place. Zoravar Singh Sandhu shot 46 to lie 28th while Manavjit Singh Sandhu shot 42 to be in 47th place.