ISSF World Cup: Indian shooters draw blank on final day of competition in Baku

Baku: India failed to win a medal on the final day of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol with both the men’s rapid-fire pistol and women’s rifle 3-positions shooters coming up short in Baku on Sunday. India finished their campaign with four medals, including one gold, two silver and a bronze. India’s 22-year-old rifle 3P shooter Manini Kaushik finished sixth with a score of 415.6 in the finals after making it to the eight-shooter showdown on the back of a fine 579 in the qualification round. Seonaid McIntosh of Great Britain won the gold with 467 points, while Norway’s Jeanette Hegg Duestad was second with 463.6 points and Germany’s Lisa Mueller settled for bronze (448.9 points). Manini, who made it to her maiden senior World Cup final, was placed fifth after the first 15 shots in the ‘kneeling’ and ‘prone’ positions. The Indian did well to stay in contention after the first 10 shots in the ‘standing’ position as well, when the eighth and seventh shooters get eliminated. However, a 9.2 for her 41st shot meant that Manini had to be satisfied with a sixth-place finish. Compatriot Anjum Moudgil was 18th with a qualification round score of 573, while Sift Kaur Samra shot 571 for a 21st-place finish. Shriyanka Sadangi and Nishchal, playing for ranking points only, shot scores of 572 and 569 respectively. None of the Indians could make it to the men’s rapid-fire pistol final with Vijayveer Sidhu and Anish Bhanwala scoring 580 and 579 respectively in Qualification Stage 2 and missing the six-shooter final. Vijayveer finished ninth, while Anish ended up 13th. Ankur Goel, the third Indian contender, shot 566 and finished in 36th spot. Adarsh Singh and Arpit Goel, shooting for ranking points, shot 578 and 564 respectively. China’s double Olympic medallist Li Yuehong won gold, helping his country top the medals tally with four gold, one silver and two bronze. The Indian pair of Divya Subbaraju Thadigol and Sarabjot Singh had earlier clinched the country’s only gold at the World Cup, winning the 10m air pistol mixed team competition, while former junior world champion Hriday Hazarika and Haryana’s Nancy had shot down silver in the men’s and women’s 10m air rifle competitions. Rhythm Sangwan had staged a fantastic comeback at the back-end of the women’s 10m air pistol final to clinch a bronze. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.