RAVI, ARJUN MISS OUT AT WORLD CUP

New Delhi, April 22: Shooters Ravi Kumar and Arjun Babuta missed out on a medal after raising hopes on the first day of the ISSF World Cup Stage 2 in Changwon, South Korea, on Sunday.

Ravi finished fourth in his fifth World Cup final in two years and the youngster Arjun, playing his first senior World Cup, also gave a good account of himself to claim the sixth place in a top field.

Russia’s Alexander Dryagin shot a world record 251.2 in the final to lead a Russian 1-2 as Rio Olympics bronze medallist, Vladimir Maslennikov, took silver with a score of 250.2 after the 24shot final.

World number one Istvan Peni of Hungary bagged bonze with a score of 228.5. Peni piped Ravi by 0.2 points at the end of 20 shots, as Ravi bowed out in fourth place after leading the finals initially, on a score of 208.4.

Arjun, also leading the final at one stage, scored 165.2.

In the 92-strong qualification round, Ravi aggregated 629.2 after 60-shots to qualify second while Arjun shot 627.0 to capture the eighth and final qualifying spot. Deepak Kumar was placed 15th after shooting a score of 625.9.

In the women’s 10m air rifle qualification, Apurvi Chandela shot 627 to finish 10th. She missed out on a finals berth by a point. Mehuli Ghosh shot 626.0 to end in 17th place while Anjum Moudgil shot 625.5 to take 20th spot.

China’s first time World Cupper Zhao Ruozhou won the gold medal in the event with a world record score of 252.4 after the 24shot final.

Chinese Taipei’s YingShin Lin bagged the silver ahead of Norway’s Jenny Stene.