ISSF World Cup New Delhi 2017: Pooja Ghatkar’s bronze lights up India’s opening day

Pooja Ghatkar
Pooja Ghatkar wins India’s first medal at the meet

Pooja Ghatkar in the Women’s 10M Air Rifle gave hosts India their first medal, a Bronze, at the ISSF World Cup (Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun) New Delhi 2017, competitions for which got underway in the capital’s Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range. This was the 27-year old Pooja’s first ever World Cup medal. Earlier in the day, she had shot 418, her best World Cup qualifying score till date, to finish second behind eventual Gold medalist from China, World No. 11 Mengyao Shi, who shot 418.6 to finish on top of the qualification charts.

In the eight-woman 24-shot final, which had names like former Olympic Bronze medalist Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia and reigning Asian Games Gold medalist Najmeh Khidmati among others, Pooja started confidently and remained among the top three throughout.

At a point when it looked like the third Chinese shooter Mingyang Wu would catch-up with her, a confident 10.8 in the 19th shot and a 10.7 in the 21st ensured India got on the medal tally on day one of competition itself. She was unable to stop a Chinese 1-2 at the top however, with Mengyao shooting a finals score of 252.1 to win Gold and compatriot Lijie Dong shooting a 248.9 to clinch Silver.

China also won the Men’s 10M Air Rifle Gold, with Buhan Song causing an upset win over Hungary’s Peter Sidi, the current World No. 4 and a former World Champion and multiple World Cup Gold medalist. Buhan shot 249.5 to Sidi’s 249.1 in the Final which went down to the wire. Japan’s Atsushi Simada won the Bronze.

India’s Deepak Kumar and Ravi Kumar also made the eight-man final but could only finish fifth and eighth respectively. However, they did well to reach their first ever World Cup final. Deepak finished fourth in qualifying with a good score of 625.8 and Ravi shot 624 to qualify for the Finals in sixth place. Deepak in fact was in contention for a medal at one stage of the Final, but faded away. Even more creditable given it was his World Cup debut.

In the other medal event of the day, the Women’s Trap, Australia’s Penny Smith won the Gold shooting 40 in the Gold Final to leave Italy’s Jessica Rossi, who shot 38, content with a Silver medal. Finland’s Veromma Mo won the Bronze shooting 27 in the Finals. Among the Indian participants in the Women’s Trap, Rajeshwari Kumar finished 17th in qualifying with a score of 64, while Seema Tomar shot 60 to finish 22nd. Manish Keer, the third Indian in the fray finished 29th shooting a score of 51.

The Men’s Rapid Fire Pistol Stage 1 of qualification also ended today with India’s Neeraj Kumar placed fifth with a score of 290. China’s Zhiming Lu topped the first Precision stage with a score of 295. Olympian Gurpreet Singh lay in 12th position with a score of 285 and the third Indian Harpreet Singh will go into the Rapid Fire stage in 17th position with a score of 281. Only the top six qualify for the final.

In the first day of the Men’s Trap qualifiers, India’s Zoravar Singh Sandhu shot 70 to lie in sixth position. Spain’s former world champion and World No. 9, Alberto Fernandez led the field with a perfect score of 75, in an event, which also has the reigning Olympic Champion, Josip Glasnovic of Croatia also participating.

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Edited by Staff Editor