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The last Shotgun World Cup of the season came to an end in Tuscon, USA with the completion of the Trap Mixed team Event.
The hosts, USA finished at the Top of the Medal's Tally with 2 Golds, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze Medal, followed by Italy. Finland and South Korea shared the 3rd position with 1 Gold Medal each.
World number one, Rhode Kimberly of USA, won the Women's Skeet event. She equalled the world record in qualification, and in the final she won in a shoot off.
The men's Skeet gold went to Korea's Lee JongJun. He got the better of Tazza Giancarlo of Italy. India's Mairaj Ahmed Khan and Sheikh Shiraz failed to qualify, finishing in 35th and 32nd position respectively in the qualification.
Marika Salmi of Finland won her first World Cup gold in the women's Trap Event by beating Spain's Galvez Fatima in a Shootoff.
In the Men's trap event both the gold and silver medals went to Italy's Simone Lorenzo and Frasca Erminio respectively. Indian Shooters Zoravar Singh and Manavjit Singh Sandhu finished at 14th and 19th position respectively in the qualification round and hence failed to progress to the final.
In the Trap Mixed team event, which was the final event of the competition, the gold and bronze medals went to the hosts, USA, while the French team secured the silver.
The performance of the Indian shooters in the tournament was dismal, to say the least. They were nowhere close to a podium finish.
In fact, none of them was able to qualify for the finals too. With the big names like Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Mairaj Ahmed Khan, Shreyashi Singh, Seema Tomar & Shiraz Sheikh, all in the fray, a much better performance was expected from the Indian contingent.
This should be considered as a wake-up call for the Indian shotgun shooters, before the upcoming Asian Games and World Championships where they have to perform much better if they are to win any medals for the country.
