NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Leading Indian rifle shooters Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Sift Kaur Samra failed to make an impact even as little-known Smit Rameshbhai Moradiya clinched the men’s 10m air rifle silver after an extremely close fight for gold in the World University Shooting Championship here on Monday.
On a day when Rameshbhai was the only Indian to win a medal, his more illustrious counterpart, Olympian Tomar finished fifth in the event, while Samra, a member of the Paris Games contingent, ended at fourth in the women’s 50m rifle three-positions event.Rameshbhai, who hails from Gujarat, missed the gold medal to Czech Republic’s Jiri Privratsky by just 0.1 point, scoring 252.1 in the final. It was a grand double for Privratsky, who shot 252.2 to claim the top-podium finish and add to the men’s 50m rifle three-positions gold he won on Sunday.
Tomar shot 187.7 for a fifth-place finish, while another Indian, Umamahesh Maddineni (208.8), finished fourth. Samra, one of the best 50m rifle exponents in the country, was a big disappointment, finishing fourth with 439.6. France’s Agathe Girard (462.3) won the gold medal, while Poland’s Julia Piotrowska (462.0) and Anna Janssen (450.2) clinched the silver and bronze respectively. (PTI)
