Shooting: Sangram wins silver, Amanpreet settles for bronze in WC Final

Sangram Dahiya and Amanpreet Singh won a silver and a bronze each as hosts India enjoyed a fruitful day in the office on day four of competition in the ISSF World Cup Final here.

Double trap exponent Sangram clinched his first-ever senior medal in International Shooting Sport Federation tournament after years of toil, while Amanpreet bagged a well-deserved bronze after scoring 202.2 in the men’s 50m pistol event, reports PTI.

Both shooters were taking part in the prestigious event for the first time. “I am really happy as the hard training over the past three weeks has paid off,” Sangram said after his effort.

Thanks to the two marksman’s medals and the gold in mixed 10m air pistol event by Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu on the opening day, India recorded their best-ever showing in the year-ending annual shooting showpiece, where only the year’s top shooters compete. Shooting alongside Amanpreet, the fancied Jitu, though, failed to impress and was the first to be eliminated at seventh place with a score of 123.2. Both had cleared the qualification hurdle without much fuss. In the double trap final at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Ranges, Sangram shot 76 out of 80 targets, three behind gold medallist Hu Binyuan (79) of China.

Italy’s Gasparani Davi (56) took the bronze.

Sangram had won a gold medal at the Asian Shooting Championship for junior way back in 2009.

Sangram shot exceedingly well throughout the day, first topping the qualifying with a score of 144 out of 150 and then replicating the showing in the final. He could not overcome the world record effort of 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Hu Binyuan, who was in sublime form in the final.

India’s world number one double trap shooter Ankur Mittal, who qualified for the six-man final in second position with a score of 139, finished fourth in the final.

He had to leave after managing 45 out of 50 shots. Sangram’s effort, somewhat, made up for the disappointment.

Amanpreet finished behind gold medallist Damir Mikec of Serbia and silver winner Oleh Omelchuk of Ukraine. Damir shot 229.3 and the Ukranian Omelchuk finished with a score of 228 in a thrilling round for the top prize.

In the qualifying round, Amanpreet had qualified in seventh spot, shooting 545 out of 600, while Jitu shot 561 to make the final in fourth position.