APURVI SHOOTS SECOND GOLD OF SEASON

New Delhi, May 26: Apurvi Chandela continued her golden run of form, winning the women’s 10m Air Rifle after a closely-fought contest on Sunday at the year’s third ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol stage in Munich, Germany.

The shooter from Jaipur shot a score of 251 in the final to outshine Wang Luyao of China, who shot

250.8, to settle for the silver medal. Another Chinese shooter, Xu Hong, finished third with a score of 229.4 in the final.

It was a neck-and-neck battle between Apurvi and Wang, where the Indian was just 0.1 ahead as she shot a 10.4 to Wang’s 10.3 to clinch the issue.

This was Apurvi’s second World Cup gold of the year followed by a world record score in New Delhi in February.

In the second Beijing leg she had finished just outside the medal bracket — at fourth place.

This was also Apurvi’s career’s fourth ISSF medal.

Another Indian in the fray on Sunday, Elavenil Valarivan also made it to the finals along with teammate Apurvi but narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fourth. She lost to eventual bronze medallist Xu Hong of China by just 0.1 points.

After 20 shots in the 24shot final, Xu edged out Elavenil 208.4 to 208.3.

Indians had a good day at other events as well.

After the first round of qualifying in the women’s

25m pistol, Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat stood in second position with a score of 294.

A good rapid fire round on Monday and she can fancy her chances of winning a medal as well as an Olympic quota.

Manu Bhaker shot 289 and was a bit behind in

24th spot, while Chinki Yadav shot 276 to be in

95th place.