Triple high for India in

GOLDEN TRIO

NEW DELHI: Manu Bhaker was i nconsolable aft er she was knocked out of the 25m pistol final at the season’s first ISSF World Cup here in February. She found a corner at the Karni Singh Shooting range and wept, oblivious to the surroundings. She had finished 5th in 25m pistol after qualifying at second place with a creditable score of 590. Two days later she failed to qualify for the 10m air pistol event.

A lot was riding on Indian shooters to grab 2020 Tokyo Olympics quota places at familiar home environ. A day after the disappointment, Bhaker bounced back to win gold at the 10m mixed air pistol event with Saurabh Chaudhary.

Throughout the season she dealt with highs and lows in equal measure. At the ISSF Munich World Cup Bhaker was on track to win an Olympic quota with a podium finish in the 25m pistol but for a weapon malfunction in the middle of her match. A day later she came back to win a quota from the 10m air pistol event with a fourthplace finish.

All the while she competed at a different level in the mixed team events, the new Olympic discipline in shooting, where she and Chaudhary bagged gold in all four ISSF World Cups of the season. They will be looking to finish on a high at the ongoing season finale in Putian, China.

The journey has only shown the two different sides of the sport to the 17-year-old. On Thursday, at the ISSF World Cup Final, Bhaker came out on top of a quality field to win gold in 10m air pistol.

Bhaker came through a tough qualification squeezing herself in at the eighth spot with a score of 578. In the final she took the l ead aft er t he 11thshot and demolished the field, winning with a junior world record score of 244.7. She finished ahead of Serbian and two-time former world champion Zorana Arunovic (241.9) by a healthy margin of 2.8 points. Reigning Asian Games champion Wang Qian (221.8) of China finished third.