ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup 2019, Day 3: Lacklustre day for Indians

Catch all the updates and highlights from Day 3 of the ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup 2019 in New Delhi.

Shooters in the final 50m Air Rifle event during the ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup, at the Karni Singh Shooting Range on Sunday in New Delhi.

Hello and welcome to Sportstar's LIVE coverage of the third day of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Rifle/Pistol World Cup 2019 in New Delhi.

 

•  At the end of the women's 50m rifle 3 position in the second relay, Gaayathri Nithyanadam is at 10th place with a score of 1166.  Tejaswini Sawant is lying low at 35th with 1146 and is unexpected to make the qualification round tomorrow.  Sunidhi Chauhan and Gaayathri will take position in the final qualification tomorrow and will require a top 8 finish to reach the final.   That brings us to the end of Monday's session at the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi.

• Anjum Moudgil (1164) and Kajal Saini (1165) have no trouble attaining the MQS score (1115) in the women's rifle 3 positions event.

 

• Sergey Kamenskiy's second medal this World cup is a gold and doesn't he love it! Kamenskiy who had bagged the silver at the Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions on Sunday beats everyone to the podium today scoring an exceptional 249.4.  Runner up - Yukun Liu: 247.0, Zicheng Hui: 225.9

An interesting fact to note: Kamenskiy's score is one point higher than what the gold score was in the 2018 World Championships.

 

• The men's 10m air rifle final is underway. The Indians, however,  will have to wait until the next World Cup to earn their quota places.

 

• Anjum Moudgil gets 392 in the kneeling segment of the 50m rifle 3 positions in the MQS category.An individual can claim only one quota place for his/her country. Since Moudgil has already earned India a quota place in the 10m air rifle category at the World Championships last year, she is competing in the MQS category here to ensure India has every chance to claim the two possible quotas in the category.

• Gaayathri Nithyanadam and Tejaswini Sawant are, in the meantime, done with the first position of the second relay of the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women qualification event. At 14th and 19th respectively, as of now, the scores read 388 and 355.

• Pankaj Kumar shoots 620.9 in the MQS Extra stage of the 10m Air Rifle event. Required MQS was 595.0

• Disappointing news for the Indian shooting fans! None of the three shooters - Divyansh Panwar (12th), Ravi Kumar (14th), and Deepak Kumar (34th)- could qualify for the 10m Air Rifle Final.

• In the MQS Extra - Stage 1, Gurpreet Singh and Bhavesh Shekhawat finish with 285 and 280 respectively.

Saurabh Chaudhary on his magnificient performance on Sunday:

 

• Adarsh Singh, who is competing for a medal in the Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event scores 288 in the first stage. He is just one point behind compatriot Arpit Goel.

• Pankaj Kumar, who is aiming for the MQS in the same event at the range, shoots a 102.8 and 102.9 in the first two series. Set MQS for the event is 595.0

• A 104.2 for Divyansh and a 105.5 for Ravi is how things start in the first series of the second relay at the capital. Does it get better from here?

• Only time will tell whether India has a shot at the medal in the Men's 10m Air Rifle, as both Divyansh Singh Panwar and Ravi Kumar are fighting it out in the range, now that Deepak Kumar is already out of contention.

• Meanwhile, Kajal Saini is done with her round as well. She has managed to put up 1165 on the board. Well past the MQS mark!

• Sunidhi Chauhan finishes with a score of 1168 in the first qualification round of the Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions event. As of now, she is ninth on the leaderboard.

• Kajal Saini shoots a 395 in Prone, which means that she needs a minimum of 335 in the final standing position to cross the set MQS. Should be easy, right?

• The Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event is already underway and India's Arpit Goel has shot 289 in Stage 1.

 

• Sad news for India! Deepak Kumar's final score reads 624.3, and rank 16th after the Men's 10m Air Rifle Relay 1 event. He is all but eliminated.

• 98 it is! Sunidhi completes the Prone round as well with a score of 396. With a total score of 785 from two positions now, she leaps up to the sixth place.

• What a comeback from Sunidhi: 99, 99 and a 100 in Prone! Any guesses as to what her score will be in the last series?

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION SCORES (MQS) FOR THE 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES Rifle Discipline 10m Air Rifle Men - 595.0 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men - 1135  10m Air Rifle Women - 590.0  50m Rifle 3 Positions Women - 1115 Pistol Discipline 10m Air Pistol Men - 563 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men - 560 10m Air Pistol Women - 550  25m Pistol Women - 555 Shotgun Discipline Trap Men - 112 Skeet Men - 114 Trap Women - 92 Skeet Women - 92

 

• Sunidhi Chauhan accumulates 389 points (98, 99, 97 and 95) from the kneeling round. She presently occupies the 18th place on the leaderboard.

Who is it going to be for the host? Deepak Kumar? Or Ravi Kumar? Or maybe Divyansh Singh Panwar?

 

• Kajal Saini completes the kneeling round in the MQS Extra with a score of 385.

• Deepak Kumar shoots a 103.2 and a 103.6 in the first two series in the 10m Air Rifle Qualification round.

• In the meantime, Kajal Saini is eyeing the Minimum Qualification Score (MQS) in Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions and starts off with a 97. The MQS set for the 2020 Olympic Games for this event is 1115.

• Not a bad start to the day for the host at all! Sunidhi Chauhan shoots a 98 in the first series of the kneeling round in the Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions event.

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READ: Lieutenant Anuradha set for shooting World Cup

Indians to watch out for on Monday: Women's 50m Rifle 3 positions: Gaayathri Nithyanadam, Tejaswini Sawant, Sunidhi Chauhan, Anjum Moudgil (MQS) and Kajal Saini (MQS) Men's 10m Air Rifle: Deepak Kumar, Ravi Kumar, Divyansh Singh Panwar and Pankaj Kumar(MQS) Men's 25m Pistol Rapid Fire:  Arpit Goel, Adarsh Singh, Bhavesh Shekhawat (MQS) and Gurpreet Singh (MQS)

 

Here is Monday's events rundown in IST:

09:00 - 11:45	50m Rifle 3 Positions Women Elimination 1
09:15 - 10:30	10m Air Rifle Men Relay 1
10:30 - 15:00	25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men Stage 1
11:45 - 13:00	10m Air Rifle Men Relay 1
12:45 - 15:30	50m Rifle 3 Positions Women Elimination 2
14:15	Final 10m Air Rifle Men
15:00	Victory Ceremony

 

HIGHLIGHTS, DAY 2: Another World Record was shattered today! Hungary's Veronika Major scored 40, going past Anna Korakaki (GRE) and Monika Karsch's (GER) shared milestone of 39 in 2016 and 2017, respectively.   Saurabh Chaudhary shatters the previous World Record set by Ukraine's Omelchuk Oleh in May 2018 at the Munich World Cup by 1.4 points. and wins gold in the 10m Air Pistol (REPORT)   While Hungary's Istvan Peni scores 459.1 to win the Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions Final, Russia's Sergey Kamenskiy wins silver (459.0) and Italy's Marco De Nicolo grabs bronze (444.5). Istvan Peni and De Nicolo get Olympic quotas.   So close yet so far! Manu Bhaker missed 3/5 in the last series to finish with a score of 22. Fifth place for her in the final 25m Pistol event.   Annu Raj Singh shot 571 in the 25m Women's Pistol - MQS Extra round. The Minimum Qualification Scores set for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games is 555.   Both Abhishek Verma and Ravinder Singh finished at 576 points to get eliminated from the 10m Air Pistol event.   Om Prakash Mitharval finished at 578 with an exceptional 99 in the last series, which is well above the required Minimum Qualification Score (MQS) of 563 in Men's 10m Air Pistol - MQS Extra round.

 

Here is our correspondent Kamesh Srinivasan's preview for the ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup 2019:

The threat is over and the shooters can now pull the trigger in right earnest in pursuit of the 14 Olympic quota places on offer, apart from the 30 medals, in the ISSF World Cup starting at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Saturday. After the uncertainty about the Olympic quota places have been dispelled by a clear directive from the International Olympic Committee, the Indian shooters will aim to secure 12 of the Olympic quota places that they are eligible to earn in this edition.

Vladimir Lisin, president of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) during the opening ceremony of Rifle/Pistol World Cup, at Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range, on Thursday in New Delhi.

 

Saurabh Chaudhary, the Asian Games gold medallist, Youth Olympics champion and World junior champion, will be one of the strong contenders in men’s air pistol. So will be the other Youth Olympics gold medallist Manu Bhaker who had a phenomenal season last year when she won World Cup gold medals among women and juniors, apart from world class scores in the Asian Games. Bhaker, in fact, will have three events, air pistol, sports pistol and the mixed air pistol to assert her class. Of course, there are no more Olympic quotas available for the mixed events after the ones won in the World Championship last year. The shooters have to qualify individually and form a team at the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.

Asian Games silver medallist Deepak Kumar and the air rifle national champion for the last three years Ravi Kumar have enough exposure at the international level to strike it rich at home. There is also a surprise package in the young Divyansh Singh Panwar.

The onus in women’s rifle 3-position will be on Gaayathri Nithyanandam and former World Champion in prone, Tejaswini Sawant, as the world record holder in the event, Anjum Moudgil is ineligible to fight for any further quota place.

Seasoned Olympians like Sanjeev Rajput and Heena Sidhu who took the oath on behalf of the athletes at the opening ceremony on Thursday, will be able to deliver in men’s rifle 3-position and women’s air pistol events respectively. Asian Games gold medallist Rahi Sarnobat who shoots the 25-metre sports pistol, the equivalent of men’s rapid fire pistol, will be able to step on the gas along with Manu Bhaker and Chinki Yadav. There are other shooters like Olympian Chain Singh and the Asian Games bronze medallist Abhishek Verma, who are capable of winning anything on their day.

The focus of all the shooters will be to first make the finals in their events. Everything is possible thereafter, from gold medals to Olympic quota places. The opening day will feature the women’s air rifle final, in which the host can aim to shoot the medals only.

It will not be easy, as the rest of the world is in strength, with the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Americans, Russians apart from the Europeans, gunning for glory, which should make it a lively contest over the next five days.

Where to watch? There will be live television coverage of the World Cup by Sony and Doordarshan , which should provide the right impetus for the Indian shooters to show case their world beating skills.