Indians continue to dominate at ISSF shooting World Cup

New Delhi, March 23: The gold rush continued for Indian shooters at the ISSF World Cup on Tuesday as Ganemat Sekhon and Angad Vir Singh Bajwa claimed the skeet mixed team top honours here. The 20-year-old Ganemat and 25-year-old Angad, who had topped the qualification with a score of 141, produced another good show to beat the Kazakh pair of Olga Panarina and Alexandr Yechshenko 33-29 in the gold medal showdown. It was the only final lined up for the day.
With this, table-topper India’s gold haul at the ongoing event went up to seven. The hosts have also won four silvers and as many bronze medals for a total of 15 medals so far in the tournament.
In the gold medal match, the 25-year-old Angad, world no.62, looked in fine form as he produced a near-perfect show, missing just one out of his 20 shots even as Ganemat stumbled six times. It was a nail-biting showdown as India and Kazakhstan were level at 16-16 after the first set of 20 targets.
Ganemat got her act together in the second half, producing perfect next four shots and even though Angad missed one, Olga and Alexander both missed two each to give India a 23-20 lead.
In the final four shots, Angad once again produced a confident performance and even though Ganemat missed her last shot, it didn’t matter as the Kazakhs were guilty of missing three. It was Ganemat’s third medal in the ongoing tournament, having claimed a silver along with Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Karttiki Singh Shaktawat in the women’s skeet final on Monday.
For Angad, it was his second gold after having claimed the yellow metal along with Gurjoat Khangura and Mairaj Ahmad Khan in the men’s skeet final on Monday. India won the mixed team gold medals in both the 10m air pistol and 10m air rifle events on Monday.
In the other events of the day, Sanjeev Rajput qualified for the finals of the men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event with a score of 1172, to top the charts. In-fact all three Indians made it to the final scheduled for Wednesday morning. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar shot 1165 to finish fifth while Niraj Kumar bagged the eighth and final qualifying spot.
In the Women’s 25m Pistol where the first precision round was held, all three Indians were on top of the leaderboard. Indian number one Rahi Sarnobat was perched at the summit with a score of 291, while Chinky Yadav was lying second with 289. Manu Bhaker was third with a score of 288. Besides the men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions and the women’s 25m Pistol, the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions final is also slated for Wednesday. (PTI)