Ravi Kumar and Arjun Babuta raised hopes of a medal but missed out in the end, during competition day one of the second International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun stage, being held at the Changwon International Shooting Range in Korea. Ravi eventually finished fourth in his fifth ISSF final in two years and the youngster Arjun, playing his first senior World Cup, also gave a good account of himself to claim sixth place in a top field.
Russia’s Alexander Dryagin shot a world record 251.2 in the final to lead a Russian 1-2 as Rio Olympics Bronze medalist in the event, Vladimir Maslennikov won Silver with a score of 250.2 after the 24-shot final. World number one, Istvan Peni of Hungary won Bronze with a score of 228.5. Peni had piped Ravi by 0.2 points at the end of 20 shots, as Ravi bowed out in fourth place after leading the finals initially, on a score of 208.4. Arjun, also leading the final at one stage, claimed sixth with a score of 165.2.
Earlier in the 92-strong qualification round, Ravi shot a 629.2 after 60-shots to qualify second while Arjun shot 627.0 to capture the eighth and final qualifying spot. Deepak Kumar missed out, placing 15th after shooting a score of 625.9.
In the Women’s 10m Air Rifle, Apurvi Chandela shot 627 to finish 10th, the best among the three Indians in the fray. She missed out on a finals berth by a point. Mehuli Ghosh shot 626.0 to end in 17th place while Anjum Moudgil shot 625.5 to finish in 20th spot. China’s first time World Cupper Zhao Ruozhou won Gold in the event with a world record score of 252.4 after the 24-shot final. Chinese Taipei’s Ying-Shin Lin won Silver and Norway’s Jenny Stene won Bronze.
Both Rahi Sarnobat and Heena Sidhu shot 291 out of 300 to finish the first qualification stage of the Women’s 25m Pistol in 10th and 13th positions in the 61 strong field. Annu Raj Singh was lying 20th with a score of 288. In the Women’s Trap after the first day of qualification Shreyasi Singh with 64 hits out of 75 was the best placed Indian in 30th position. Shagun Chowdhary had 63 to lie 36th while Seema Tomar shot 60 to be in 47th place. The top six qualify for the finals in both the events.
Both the finals of the above events are slated for competition day two along with the Mixed Team Air Rifle finals.
