GRANADA (Spain), April 8: Indian shooters endured a disappointing outing in the men’s 10m air pistol event at the ISSF Pistol/Rifle World Cup here on Wednesday, with all three participants failing to qualify for the finals, just a day after clinching the mixed team gold with a world-record performance.
Young Mukesh Nelavalli, who had shattered the world record en route to winning gold in the 10m air pistol mixed team event on the opening day on Tuesday, finished 14th with an aggregate score of 579, missing out on the eight-shooter final by a considerable margin.
On a day when even world No. 1 Hu Kai of China struggled — finishing 15th with a score of 578M — Mukesh was undone by two subpar series of 94 and 95 in the opening and closing rounds.
In between, he posted solid scores of 98, 98, 97, and 97 in the six-series qualification stage.
Paris Olympics gold medallist Yu Xie delivered a superb performance, shooting 588 to top the qualifying round and advance to the finals in first place, with series scores of 98, 99, 97, 98, 99, and 97.
Ujjawal Malik, the 10m air pistol mixed team gold medallist at the 2024 Cairo World Cup, finished 22nd with a total of 577 (95, 96, 96, 97, 95, 98). Meanwhile, the third Indian, Pramod — competing as a senior for the first time in an international event — shot 574 to be places 39th in a field of 86 shooters.
In the women’s 25m pistol event, Olympian Rhythm Sangwan shot 292 (99, 96, 97) in the precision round to be placed sixth after the opening day.
While Divya T also impressed with a 291 (96, 98, 97) to secure eighth place. The third Indian, Simranpreet Kaur Brar shot 282 (93, 94, 95) to be placed 45th.
Paris Olympics silver medallist Camille Jedrzejewski of France led the field after the opening day with a score of 294.
The second stage of the competition — the rapid round — will be held on Thursday, with the top-eight shooters advancing to the medal round. (PTI)
