In a strong field of world class shooters, India’s Pooja Ghatkar made it to the final round of the Women’s 10M Air Rifle event, only to narrowly miss out on a medal and finish fourth on competition day one of the ISSF World Cup for Rifle and Pistol, which got underway in Thailand’s capital Bangkok.
Pooja with a clear head and steady hand ended her qualifying round of 40 shots each in a credible third position behind China’s Olympic and World Champion Yi Siling and Singapore’s Ho Xiu Yi.
It went down to the wire
In the final round, however, Pooja was pushed to the fourth spot after an exciting battle for the bronze medal between Pooja and Singapore’s star Jasmine. Yi won the gold medal with a score of 207.7 while Austria’s Oliva Hoffmann bagged the silver with a final round score of 184.6.
Pooja’s teammates Ayonika Paul and Apurvi Chandela were hardly in the race and struggled with form as they finished with disappointing scores of 413.8 and 413.6 respectively in their qualification rounds.
The second day promises to be yet another exciting affair with the 50m Air Pistol event kick-starting proceedings.
