Sangram bags double trap silver; Amanpreet bronze
NEW DELHI: India’s Sangram Dahiya won silver in men’s double trap and Amanpreet Singh third in 50m free pistol to give the hosts their first individual medals in the ISSF World Cup Final at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range here on Friday.
China’s Hu Binyuan won the double trap gold with a world record tally of 79/80. Dahiya shot 76/80 to clinch the second spot while Italy’s Davide Gasparini took bronze despite managing just 56. India’s Ankur Mittal, the world No 1, ended up fourth.
Amanpreet Singh’s third spot in the 50m free pistol gave India their first individual medal. He once again showed his temperament by withstanding pressure despite an uneven day through the qualification and final rounds. However, his betterknown compatriot, Jitu Rai, failed to impress and was the first shooter to be eliminated in the final. Damir Mikec of Serbia won the gold and Oleh Omlechuck of Ukraine took silver.
Amanpreet struggled through the competition, but held on to stay in medal contention. After not finding consistency in qualification, Amanpreet was lucky to qualify for the final as there were only seven shooters in the fray.
His modest score of 541 out of a possible 600 points could have eliminated him from the eightman final if there had been a bigger field. Jitu Rai was steady in the qualification round, scoring 561/600, but the 2014 world championships silver medallist failed to get things right from the start in the final to become the first to be eliminated. For Amanpreet, it was a different story in the final. After the first 10 shots, he was sitting pretty in the third spot behind Ukraine’s Omelchuck and Mikec of Serbia.
He slipped to fifth and was then battling with Iran’s Vahid Golkhandan for the sixth place, but survived and rose to fourth place.
There was also a brief tussle between Turkey’s Yusuf Dikec and Amanpreet for the third spot with the home shooter trailing by just 0.4 points. However, Amanpreet responded by shooting a 9.4 while Dikec managed only 8 to slip and go out of the medal race.
Amanpreet stayed in the third spot till the end, claiming bronze with a total score of 202.2 points in the final. The top two were way ahead with winner Damir Mikec tallying 229.3 and Oleh Omlechuck 228.0 in the final round.