New Delhi: India’s Divya T.S. made the final of the women’s 10m Air Pistol event on competition Day One of the season-ending International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Final (WCF) in Doha, Qatar, finishing seventh eventually.
It was a China 1-2-3 in the event at the Lusail Shooting Range, as Li Xue took gold over Zhao Nan even as Jiang Ranxin, the reigning world champion, took bronze. Germany’s Robin Walter won the other medal event of the day, the Men’s 10m Air Pistol.
Divya shot a score of 576 in the 60-shot qualification round, which gave her sixth place in the 14-strong field. In the final, she could not overcome a sluggish start which saw her in seventh place after the first 10 shots, bowing out after the 14th in the same position with a score of 137.8, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) informed in a release.
Teammate Esha Singh shot 571 to finish 13th overall. In the Men’s 10m Air Pistol, Sarabjot Singh looked in contention for a major part of qualification. However, he ended with a 581 to miss making it to the top-eight by a point, finishing ninth.
Wednesday will see five Indians in action at the Rifle and Pistol range as Rudrankksh Patil, Hriday Hazarika, Mehuli Ghosh, Ramita Jindal and Elavenil Valarivan aim for the 10m Men’s and Women’s Air Rifle titles respectively.
Shotgunners Prithviraj Tondaiman and Ganemat Sekhon will also begin their qualification rounds in the men’s trap and women’s skeet on Wednesday.
A total of 179 athletes from 12 countries are participating in the ISSF World Cup Final Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun, Doha 2023. On the final day of the event on Saturday, November 25, three special events are also scheduled to be staged purely from an entertainment and competition perspective.
–IANS