ISS World Cup: Manu, Gaayathri narrowly miss finals

Rifle shooter Gaayathri Nithyanandam and pistol ace Manu Bhaker missed the finals in their events by four points each.

Manu Bhaker had shot 593 in qualification in the Asian Games in Palembang, but had identical scores of 291 in the precision and rapid fire section that proved inadequate to ensure progress.

It was four points that kept two of the best young Indian shooters from reaching two finals of the shooting World Cup which concluded in China, on Sunday.

India would have had a lot more to celebrate than topping the medals table with three gold and a silver ahead of host China, which had two gold, two silver and a bronze. But rifle shooter Gaayathri Nithyanandam and pistol ace Manu Bhaker missed the finals in their events by four points each.

READ: India tops medal tally

In what is easily the most taxing event, the 50-metre rifle 3-position contest, in which the shooters first go through an elimination round featuring 120 shots, before shooting another 120 shots in qualification, Gaayathri had a total of 1169.

With 62x, the number of inner 10s, the quality of shooting was good for Gaayathri, who had 390 in kneeling, 395 in prone and 384 in standing.

While Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia won the gold, Bae Sang Hee of Korea and Jeanette Hegg Duestad of Norway, not only won the silver and bronze respectively, but also the Olympic quota places in the event.

With 62x, the number of inner 10s, the quality of shooting was good for Gaayathri who had 390 in kneeling, 395 in prone and 384 in standing.

 

The Norwegian had shot 1173 in qualification, the last score that made the final.

In the women’s 25-metre sports pistol, Manu Bhaker, the only Indian shooter fighting for medals in three events, shot 582 out of 600 and missed the final by four points.

The Youth Olympics champion, Manu had shot 593 in qualification in the Asian Games in Palembang, but had identical scores of 291 in the precision and rapid fire section that proved inadequate to ensure progress.

Asian Games gold medallist Rahi Sarnobat, who had competed in the London Olympics and has a World Cup gold against her name, scored 579 for the 26th spot.

India was joint first in the World Cup in Delhi with three gold medals along with Hungary. It was topping the table for the second time this season. Last year, India had topped the Guadalajara World Cup in Mexico, with four gold, a silver and four bronze medals.

In Beijing, more than the medals, India did well to win the Olympic quota places through Divyansh Singh Panwar and Abhishek Verma, to add to the three won earlier by Anjum Moudgil, Apurvi Chandela and Saurabh Chaudhary.

While the rifle and pistol shooters next assemble for the World Cup in Munich from May 24, the shotgun shooters will compete in Changwon, Korea, from May 7.

The results

Women

25m sports pistol: 1. Maria Grozdeva (Bul) 36 (587); 2. Veronika Major (Hun) 35 (586); 3. Anna Korakaki (Gre) 30 (587); 17. Manu Bhaker 582; 26. Rahi Sarnobat 579; 56. Chinki Yadav 570. MQS: Yashaswini Singh Deswal 573.

50m rifle 3-position: 1. Snjezana Pejcic (Cro) 464.0 (1177); 2. Bae Sang Hee (Kor) 459.5 (1178); 3. Jeanette Hegg Duestad (Nor) 447.1 (1173); 19. Gaayathri Nithyanandam 1169; 42. Sunidhi Chauhan 1160; 60. Kajal Saini 1142. MQS: Anjum Moudgil 1163.