Jitu strikes gold, Amanpreet fetches silver in ISSF World Cup
NEW DELHI: Shooter Jitu Rai finally ended India’s gold drought with yet another stirring comeback and compatriot Amanpreet Singh bagged the silver in men’s 50m pistol event as India secured their first yellow metal of the ongoing ISSF World Cup with a dominant show here on Wednesday.
Entering the event a day after claiming the 10m pistol bronze, Rai upped the ante as the final closed in on the elimination rounds.
The unassuming Armyman shot a total of 230.1, a world record, to finish on top of the podium, while Amanpreet, who was leading for a major part of the final, had to be satisfied with the silver after aggregating 226.9.
Iran’s Vahid Golkhandan managed the bronze with 208.0 at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range.
The 29-year-old Rai was placed sixth at the end of the first two competition series of five shots each with 93.8. At that point, Amanpreet was leading the eight-man field with 98.9.
The Punjabi shooter extended his domination with a series of high scores, even as Rai tried to make his way back into contention after a start that included a horrendous 6.6, much to the disbelief of the partisan crowd.
A stunning 10.8 in one of the elimination rounds proved to be crucial for Rai, who jumped from sixth to the third position, and knocked out Kazakhstan’s renowned marksman Vladimir Issachenko in the following round with a 10.5.
Rai kept up the tempo with a 10.4 and 10.0, while Aman- preet, after a fine start in his first World Cup final, suffered a meltdown.
After upstaging Golkhandan, Rai comfortably got the better of Amanpreet in the gold medal round, finishing the event with an excellent 10.5 to lay his claim on the top prize.
“It’s amazing to win this gold medal here during the first combined World Cup held here in India, in front of my supporters. It’s a great honour and a true emotion to see the Indian flag atop the podium,” said Rai.
Thanks to another poor start, Rai had to be on his guard to avoid elimination in the following competition shots. He then got his act together and shot his way into medal contention with a series of good scores.
Earlier in the qualification round, Amanpreet had led the charts with 561 points while Jitu was second with 559 points.
They had finished first and second respectively in the qualification stage.
Rai entered the tournament after winning two World Cup medals and one in the World Cup Final, where the 10 best shooters from around the world take part.
In the day’s other events, Indian shooters failed to qualify for the finals. In women’s 25m rapid fire pistol, Muskan finished 12th with 576, while Rahi Sarnobat was way behind at 23rd.
In women’s skeet, Rash- mee Rathore ended 17th, Arti Singh Rao was 24th and Saniya Sheikh was 27th in the qualification stage.
Prior to today’s results, Pooja Ghatkar had won the host nation its first medal — a bronze — on day one of the competition, Ankur Mittal had bagged the trap silver with Rai claiming a bronze in the 10m air pistol event.
The duo of Rai and Heena Sidhu had won the mixed team air pistol event but the medals won were not officially counted as that was a test event.
NEW DELHI: Playing in his first World Cup final, Indian shooter Amanpreet Singh, who lost out on the gold medal to the experienced Jitu Rai in the 50m pistol final on Wednesday, may have felt nervous seeing the huge turnout for his final.
He was leading for a better part of the final before Rai staged a remarkable comeback to upstage Amanpreet in front of a packed house that wholeheartedly backed its shooters.
“This was my first final and the crowd was big and was making lots of noises,” Amanpreet said after the event, indicating that he crumbled under pressure.
Considering that shooting is an individualistic and quiet sport, the ISSF World Cup has been an exception with a packed crowd witnessing the best shooters locked in intense face-offs.
A good number of seats at the final hall of the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range were occupied before the commencement of medal rounds in all the events. So much so, it has left Hungarian shooting great Peter Sidi pleasantly surprised.
“It’s a popular game in India. The range here is in very good
‘This was my first final and the crowd was big and was making lots of noises’
shape. This is my second visit to the country and I really like it. I think we should have a World Championship here,” Sidi, a winner of multiple World Championship and World Cup medals, said.
The 37-year-old Sidi, who termed the International Shooting Sport Federation’s move to introduce the mixed team events on trial basis in the tournament as “boring”, stressed on the need to make the game more exciting for the crowd. “This is not a sport and the rules are not proper. Nobody is taking it seriously. This is very boring for spectators. It’s very lengthy.”
Thanks to the performance of the Indian shooters in recent years, save the Rio Olympics, the sport has been able to draw the interest of the government and the corporate houses, and the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh had no qualms in admitting it.