Shooting World Cup: Suruchi, Saurabh pair strikes gold

LIMA, (Peru) April 17: The pair of Suruchi and Saurabh Chaudhary struck gold at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun in Lima, Peru, winning the 10m air pistol mixed team title 17-9 over the Chinese pairing of Yao Qianxun and Hu Kai.
It was the teenager Suruchi’s third ISSF World Cup gold and Saurabh’s ninth, including his fifth mixed team gold to go with a mixed team World Cup silver.
The pair made the gold medal match at the Las Palmas range with a combined 580 in qualification, with Suruchi outscoring Saurabh by a couple of points. The Chinese pair topped with 585.
In the decider as well, the Chinese pair got a head-start shooting off to a 2-6 and 4-8 advantage, before a time out called by Indian coach Samaresh Jung brought a change in the momentum of the match.
Suruchi shot splendidly throughout, and the couple of times she missed the 10-ring, her Tokyo Olympian partner made up with high 10s, including a 10.9 for his first hit of the match.
The pair regained the lead they had lost after the first series of single shots, in the 10th series, going ahead 11-9 after a tied eighth series had levelled the scores at 9-9.
They did not look back thereafter and needed just the next three series to wrap up the win as the Chinese misfired first under pressure.
They did it in style, too, closing out with 10.6 (Suruchi) and 10.5 (Saurabh) with both the Chinese failing to hit the 10-ring.
Earlier, the second Indian pair of Manu Bhaker and Ravinder Singh finished fourth, after going to the second Chinese pair of Zhang Yifan/Ma Qianke 6-16, in the bronze medal match.
They were fourth in qualifying as well with a combined effort of 579.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Jhajjar girls Suruchi and Manu Bhaker were on the rampage at the Las Palmas shooting range, the former picking up back-to-back World Cup gold medals, stunning the double Olympic medallist pistol shooter Manu, who took the silver.
Taking aim on competition Day One of the year’s second ISSF World Cup stage, Suruchi tallied 243.6 in the 24-shot 10m air pistol women’s final, to leave her senior double Olympic medal-winning compatriot 1.3 behind in the chase. China’s Yao Qianxun took bronze.
RAIZA DHILLON FINISHES FIFTH IN WOMEN’s SKEET
Paris Olympian Raiza Dhillon finished a creditable fifth after entering her first ISSF World Cup final in the women’s skeet event on a day when India maintained their impressive run in the tournament here.
At the end of second competition day, India were second in the medals tally with two gold, one silver and a bronze. China lead the standings.
Raiza, a former junior world championship silver medallist and a bronze winner at the Asian Championships last year, enjoyed a solid final in a strong field before bowing out at the halfway stage of the 60-shot decider with 26 hits to her name.
She could not get the better of the fourth-placed Jiang Yiting of China, a Paris Olympics mixed team bronze medallist, whom she had to beat given the disadvantage of having the highest bib number. She had shot 19 out of the first 20 to fend off the second Chinese finalist Che Yufei.
Shotgun legend Kimberly Rhode, a three-time Olympic champion and six-time Olympic medallist, won the gold with 56 hits, leading an American 1-2-3 in the event. Samantha Simonton went down 1-2 in a shoot-off with Rhode for gold and former world champion Dania Jo Vizzi won bronze.
Kimberly’s effort at the Las Palmas range on Wednesday evening gave her a 19th individual World Cup gold and a staggering 26th yellow metal across events including double trap and mixed team skeet.
Raiza was 10th overnight and needed two great rounds to make the top six finals cut. She began with a perfect 25 and followed it up with a 24 to tie for sixth with Kazakhstan’s Zoya Kravchenko at 117. The latter missed her second shoot-off shot as the Indian clinched the sixth and final spot.Teammate Ganemat Sekhon went the other way, starting at sixth overall and ending at ninth with 116. Darshna Rathore was further down in 15th with 110. (Agencies)