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New Delhi, October 28
Sangram Dahiya and Amanpreet Singh won a silver and a bronze medal, respectively, as hosts India enjoyed a fruitful day at the ISSF World Cup Final here today.
On the fourth day of the competition, double trap exponent Dahiya clinched his maiden senior medal in the International Shooting Sport Federation tournament, while Singh bagged a well-deserved bronze after scoring 202.2 in the men’s 50m pistol event. Both the shooters were competing in the prestigious event for the first time.
“I am really happy as the hard work over the past three weeks has paid off,” Dahiya said after his silver medal effort.
Thanks to the two marksmen’s medals and the gold in the mixed 10m air pistol event by Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu on the opening day, India have recorded their best-ever showing in the year-ending annual shooting showpiece, where only the year’s top shooters compete.
Shooting alongside Singh, much-fancied Jitu Rai, however, failed to impress and was the first to be eliminated at seventh place with a score of 123.2. Both had cleared the qualification hurdle without much fuss.
Shooting star
In the double trap final at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Ranges, Dahiya shot 76 out of 80 targets, three behind gold medallist Hu Binyuan (79) of China. Italy’s Gasparani Davi (56) took the bronze.
Dahiya shot exceedingly well throughout the day, first topping the qualifying round with a score of 144 out of 150, and then sustainig the form and momentum in the final as well.
However, he could not overcome the world-record effort of 2008 Olympics bronze medallist Hu Binyuan, who was in sublime form in the final.
Narrow miss for Mittal
India’s world No. 1 double trap shooter Ankur Mittal, who qualified for the six-man final in second position with a score of 139, finished fourth in the final. He had to leave after managing 45 out of 50 shots. But Dahiya’s effort made up for the disappointment to a large extent.
Singh, meanwhile, finished behind gold medallist Damir Mikec of Serbia and silver-medal winner Oleh Omelchuk of Ukraine.
Mikec shot 229.3, while Omelchuk finished with a score of 228 in a thrilling round for the top prize. In the qualifying round, Singh had qualified in seventh spot, shooting 545 out of 600, while Rai shot 561 to make the final in fourth position.
Singh, who along with the rest of the Indian squad, will leave for Australia to take part in the Commonwealth Shooting Championship, said: “There was a huge pressure shooting in front of the home crowd and I am really relieved.
“I did not shoot that well in the qualifying but in the final I was focusing on getting my technique right for each and every shot, and it paid off. I am really happy to win this medal in such an elite competition.”
“Considering that this is a World Cup Final with the best shooters in the fray, you can call this my finest performance. I’m happy but it’s not great in terms of scores, so I need to improve on that,” said Singh.
In the day’s other two finals, Denmark’s Torben Grimmel won the men’s 50m rifle prone with a world record score of 250.6 in the final. Germany’s reigning Olympics champion Henri Junghaenel won the silver with a score of 250.1, while Korea’s Kim Jonghyun bagged the bronze with an effort of 228.7.
In the women’s 25m pistol event, Korea’s Kim Minjung won the gold, beating China’s former world champion Jingjing Zhang in the final.
Both Kim and Zhang ended with 34 points each in the final, but Kim prevailed in a shoot-off. Zorana Arunovic of Serbia won the bronze.
Dahiya and Singh’s effort took India to the fourth spot in the medal standings with a haul of one gold, one silver and a bronze medal.
