Rio de Janerio: An authoritative Yashaswini Singh Deswal secured India’s ninth Olympic quota in style, upstaging the women’s 10m air pistol’s numero uno shooter Olena Kostevych of Ukraine for a gold in the ISSF World Cup here.
The 22-year-old former junior world champion on Saturday recorded 236.7 in the eight-woman final of the season’s fourth ISSF World Cup for pistol and rifle shooters. Ukraine’s world number one Kostevych, also a former Olympic and world champion, claimed the silver with 234.8, while Serbia’s Jasmina Milavonovic bagged the bronze with 215.7. Such was the dominance of Yashaswini that she ended the final a massive 1.9 points ahead of the event’s next best performer, Kostevych. Yashaswini, a student of Economics, had also topped the qualifications by a mile, aggregating a score of 582. Starting the finals with 10.1, 10.5 and 10.1, the Indian was third after the first five-shot series of stage 1. A 10.6 pushed her to number two and a 10.1 to the top, eventually ending the stage as number one. She started the elimination rounds with a bumper 10.4, which was followed by 10.0.
The standing was not disturbed despite a 9 as her lead was pretty big by that time. She briefly slipped to second with a 9.1, but a humongous 10.8, soon after, firmly established Yashaswini’s place at the top. After confirming the quota, Yashaswini shot a perfect 10.9, extending her dominance and securing the top prize with an effortless performance. Her two final shots were in the 9s. (PTI)
