All three Indians in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) competition in the on-going International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol, in Granada, Spain, could not progress beyond the qualification stage with Surabhi Bharadwaj Rapole and Olympian Anjum Moudgil logging scores of 587 each to finish in 18th and 19th spots respectively.
Ayushi Podder shot 585 to finish 27th. The eighth and final qualification spot went to 589.
Also, on Friday, Ankur Goel was the best-placed Indian in the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol (RFP) with a score of 289 after the first stage precision round. Olympian Vijayveer Sidhu shot 287 while Neeraj Kumar shot 282. The trio come back on Saturday for the second rapid-fire qualification stage before the top eight progress to the final.
Saturday, the penultimate day of competitions, also has the women’s 10m air pistol finals on the detail with Indian interests lying with reigning Asian Games champion Palak, Sainyam, and Meenu Pathak, respectively. India have so far won one gold from the Granada World Cup leg.
Earlier on Thursday, Divya TS’s creditable fourth-place finish in the women’s 25m pistol and Gajanan Khandagale’s fighting fifth on India’s and world cup debut in the men’s 10m air rifle, were the highlights of India’s day at the ongoing International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol, at the Las Gabias Shooting range.
Divya shot 28 in her third individual World Cup final to finish just outside the medals, while Gajanan bowed out with an effort of 187.5 in the men’s air rifle final. Rhythm Sangwan also made the women’s 25m pistol to finish seventh.
China’s Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Xiao Jiaruixuan won gold in the event after two rounds of shoot-offs were needed to separate her from her teenage compatriot and debutant Kong Jieru.
Both had tied with 39 hits after the regulation 10-series of five rapid-fire shots. Paris Olympics bronze medalist Camille Jedrzejewski edged out Divya for bronze and finished with 34 hits after the penultimate series.
