RAJPUT ENDS FIFTH, GOLDEN SWEEP FOR CHINA

It was a golden sweep for China in the rifle and pistol events yet again, as the hosts continued their disappointing show on Day Three of the ISSF World Cup at the Karni Singh shooting range here on Sunday.

China clinched their fourth and fifth gold medals of the tournament and lead the medals tally with five gold and four silver while India were at fifth with just a bronze.

In the 50m rifle 3 positions event, a poor transition from prone to the standing series cost Sanjeev Rajput who finished fifth. Later, Harveen Srao ended seventh in the women’s 10m air pistol.

At one stage, Rajput was in medal contention at third at the end of the prone series with scores of 305.5, jumping two places from the kneeling series. He had a decent sequence of scores in the prone series, competing on an even keel with Jan Lochbihler to enter the final stage.

However, a series of low nines and an 8.4 in the fourth shot of the standing series, just before the start of elimination round, did Rajput in. Though he tried hard but failed to close out the deficit, eventually finishing on 420.6.

Chain Singh finished ninth in the qualification stage (1157), while Satyendra Singh shot 1154 to finish 13th.

China continued their dominance as Hui Zicheng (454.2) and Jian Sun (451.6) clinched gold silver respectively, in a one-two finish.

Lochbihler, who led the field for a while, bagged the bronze on 440.2.

In the women’s 10m air pistol final, Harveen shot 133.6 to finish seventh having qualified as the eighth contestant with 379 after shooting 96, 92, 95 and 96 in four series of 10 shots each.

Former world number one and a world record holder Heena Sidhu could not make the cut, finishing 11th in the qualification stage with 378, while Priyanka Susvirkar was way 36th.

Lin Yuemein (240.8 in the final) won the top prize with a world record and compatriot Zhang Mengxue (237.8) bagged the silver in another one-two finish for China. Singapore’s Shun Xie Teo managed a bronze with 217.4. In the shotgun range, the home shooters failed to qualify for the mixed trap events, a test event of International Olympic Committee’s aim to achieve gender equality in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic programme.