Apurvi wins Air Rifle WC gold

New Delhi: India’s Apurvi Chandela continued her golden run of form, winning the women’s 10m Air Rifle after a closely-fought contest on Sunday at the year’s third International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol stage in Munich, Germany. The shooter from Jaipur shot a score of 251 in the final to outshine Wang Luyao of China, who shot 250.8, to settle for the silver medal. Another Chinese shooter, Xu Hong, finished third with a score of 229.4 in the final. It was a neck-and-neck battle between Apurvi and Wang, where the Indian was just 0.1 ahead as she shot a 10.4 to Wang’s 10.3 to clinch the issue. This was Apurvi’s second ISSF World Cup gold of the year followed by a world record score in New Delhi in February. In the second Beijing leg she had finished just outside the medal bracket — at fourth place. This was also Apurvi’s career’s fourth ISSF medal. Another Indian in the fray today, Elavenil Valarivan also made it to the finals along with teammate Apurvi but narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fourth. (PTI)