ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup in Munich: India wins five of 10 gold medals

By capturing five of the 10 gold medals on offer, Indian shooting was able to assert its class and firepower. China did win nine medals, but had only two gold, while Russia, Czech Republic and Greece won the other gold medals.

Published : May 30, 2019 20:43 IST , Munich

Photo of Anjum Moudgil and Divyansh Singh Panwar who won the mixed air rifle team gold in the shooting World Cup in Munich on Thursday.

Photo of Anjum Moudgil and Divyansh Singh Panwar who won the mixed air rifle team gold in the shooting World Cup in Munich on Thursday.

Indian shooting was at its best as the team swept 10 gold medals in the mixed air rifle and air pistol events, along with a silver to boot, to provide a heady climax to the World Cup in Munich on Thursday.

By capturing five of the 10 gold medals on offer, Indian shooting was able to assert its class and firepower. China did win nine medals, but had only two gold, while Russia, Czech Republic and Greece won the other gold medals.

It was the third World Cup in a row that India topped the medals table, after the ones in Delhi and Beijing. India was joint first with Hungary with three gold medals in Delhi in February.

In the Beijing World Cup, India had topped with three gold medals and a silver, ahead of China which had two gold, two silver and a bronze.

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To mark a satisfactory outing in Germany, India finished with two Olympic quota places through Rahi Sarnobat and Manu Bhaker.

Quite remarkably, the team of Anjum Moudgil and Divyansh Singh Panwar won the mixed air rifle gold, ahead of another Indian team of Apurvi Chandela and Deepak Kumar, in a strong field of 76 teams.

More notably, Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker made it a hat-trick of gold medals, following the ones won in the World Cups in Delhi and Beijing. The Youth Olympics champions have really stepped it up to set a high tempo for the Olympic campaign much in advance.

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With the mixed events being introduced in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 for the first time, it augurs well for India that its shooters have consistently been proving strong in the event. Significantly, Anjum Moudgil, Divyansh Singh Panwar, Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker have all won the Olympic quota, which would ensure that there would be
Indian mixed teams in air rifle and air pistol in Tokyo.

There will be another set of selection trials and domestic competition in Kumar Surendra Singh Championship before the team for the last World Cup in Rio de Janeiro in August is finalised.