ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup 2019, Day 4: As it Happened

India failed to earn any quota place on Day 4 of the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi. Anish Bhanwala was the lone Indian to make the final on Tuesday, but finished fifth in the men's 25m rapid pistol event.

Heena Sidhu will compete in the 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi on Tuesday.

 

Here is Tuesday's events rundown in IST:

 

FINAL 25m rapid pistol (men):

 

• Christian Reitz finishes with 35/40 and takes the gold. China's Junmin Lin managed a five on five in the last set, but still fell short by four points against Germany's Reitz.  The German, in fact, didn't miss the target for 19 successive shots.  Unfortunately, no Olympic quotas are on offer in this event.

• Junghong Kim has to be content with a bronze after shootng 22/35.

• It takes three shootoff battle to decide on the fourth place. Haojie gets only one on target in the third attempt to bow out.

• Haojie Zhu of China and Junhong Kim of Korea in a shoot-off for the fourth place elimination after being tied on 18.

• Anish bows out in the fifth place after shooting only two on target in the next set of shots (21-25). 

• Anish misses four out of five this time to go on a shoot-off with Frenchman Clement Bessaguet to stay in contention.  Anish gets four right, Frenchman three. Anish survives.

• Christian Reitz, who got a clean five in the second set, is on top with 16/20.

• FIVE ON FIVE from Anish in the third set of shots ! That gives the Indian a total of 11 out of 15 and puts him in the third spot.

• Anish gets three right in the second set of five shots and is currently placed fourth. Two of the finalists could hit one on target in the second set, helping India to stay above despite an ordinary performance.

• Germany's Christian Reitz gets all five on target in the second round of shots to make things difficult.

• The 25m rapid pistol final is underway. India's Anish gets three of the first five shots on target. Three of the six finalists have got four on target and the other three have got three. The elimination begins after 20 shots. 

• In the only good news for India, Anish Bhanwala made it to the 25m rapid fire pistol final after shooting 588/600 in the two-stage qualification.  He qualified in the fourth position.

 

The @Tokyo2020 Olympic Games quotas in the Women's 10m Air Pistol go to Chinese Taipei & Korea respectively. Veronica Major of Hungary wins a double Gold @ISSF_Shooting World Cup New Delhi 2019 #ISSFWCND2019

— NRAI (@OfficialNRAI) February 26, 2019

 

• Adarsh Singh gets 581/600, Arpit Goel scores 580 at the end of Stage 2 of 25m rapid pistol event. Many are yet to finish their stage 2, a clear picture of their standings will emerge only after that.

• GOLD: Nina Christen of Switzerland shoots 457.1 to win gold and an Olympic quota in the women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions. Mengyao Shi of China and Yelizaveta Korol of Kazakhstan finished second and third respectively.  Mengyao wins the other quota place.

• Of the 12 quota places available for India here, Saurabh Chaudhary was the lone Indian to secure a Quota berth ( in the 10m air pistol category). Apurvi Chandela clinched a gold in the 10m air rifle, but India, through Chandela and Anjum Moudgil, had already secured the maximum possible quota places in the category at the World Championships last year.  There are three more editions of World Cup and an Asia Championship happening later this year where India can secure the remaining 13* quota places in the rifle/pistol categories.

*ISSF revoked quota status for the men's 25m rapid pistol event in New Delhi. That effectively meant only 14 Olympic quota were on offer here. Since India had already secured two Olympic quotas in women's 10m air rifle category, shooters were vying for the remaining 12 quota places of which India managed to secure just one.  

• Anuradha scores 96 in the last series to finish with 571/600, the same score as Heena Sidhu. In short, that's the end of India's quest for Olympic quota places in the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi. India will have to wait until the next World Cup to claim its quota places.  Manu Bhaker finishes 14th and Heena Sidhu settles for a below par 25th place.

 

• Anuradha scored 94 and 96 in the next two series. She will need at least 99 to stand a chance to qualify for the final. But even 99 will not guarantee a place in the final!

 

• The final of women's 50m rifle 3 positions event is underway. Serbia's Sanja Vukasinovic is at the top after the end of kneeling position with 154.0.

• Anuradha has scored 96, 94, 95 in her first three series of shots in the 10m air pistol.

• With only mixed team competitions scheduled for tomorrow, there won't be any more Olympic quota places on offer at the World Cup in New Delhi.

• Anuradha remains India's last hope for a quota place in the New Delhi leg of ISSF World Cup. She is competing in the 10m air pistol relay 2.  It took, remarkably, just one Nationals and two trials for Anuradha, a lieutenant at Indian Navy and a pistol shooter for less than six months, to make the Indian team for an ISSF World Cup. Read about her here

 

The Indian shooters have so far gained only three quota places for the Olympics ( one in New Delhi).

• Meanwhile, 25m rapid fire pistol men's stage 1 is underway. India's Anish, Arpit Goel and Adarsh Singh are in contention for a medal. There are no Olympic quota places on offer in the event. At the end of STage 1, Anish is the highest ranked Indian. He is at fourth place with 294. Arpit and Adarsh are in 12th and 19th place respectively with scores of 289 and 288. 

 

• Heena Sidhu disappoints with a 571/600 score.

 

• Manu Bhaker finishes with 573/600 in the 10m air pistol qualification relay 1 . Not the best of scores, she is all but out of contention.

 

• 400/400! Didn't we talk about prone being the high-scoring position? Germany's Jolyn Beer has just secured the maximum possible points in prone to tie the scores with China's Dongqi at the top. Both the shooters are currently on 793 at the end of two positions.

• Gaayathri shoots 393, Sunidhi gets 392 in the prone position. They are placed below 30 in the rankings and are unlikely to recover enough to make the final.

• Not to lose sight of the exemplary performance of other shooters, China's Dongqi Chen has just secured  399/400 in prone position. With 394 in the kneeling segment, the Chinese shooter is sitting on top of the ranking charts. It is to be noted that the prone has always been the most high-scoring position and such stellar scores are not unheard of.  But she needs just 387 in the standing position to create a world record. 

• Heena Sidhu gets 97 in the second series, Manu has 96. Both are outside the Top 10 at the moment.

 

• Sunidhi Chauhan does marginally better than Gaayathri with a score of 387 in the kneeling position.

• Both Heena Sidhu and Manu Bhaker finish the first series of shots with a score of 95.  They have five more series of shots left.

 • Meanwhile, Manu Bhaker and Heena Sidhu have begun their quest for Olympic quota through the 10m air pistol relay 1. There are high expectations from these two because of their past performances. Heena Sidhu has been a World No. 1 in this category and has won gold and silver medals in the World Cup.  Manu Bhaker, 17, won a gold medal in the 10m air pistol at the ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara last year. 

• Gaayathri Nithyanadam ends the kneeling position with a score of 384 ( 94, 97, 95, 98) in the 50m rifle 3 positions qualification. It is not a great score and the Indian will need to come up with great scores in the prone and standing to make a case for a Top 8 spot.  

•  The day's action begins with women's 50m rifle 3 positions final qualification round. India is looking to earn the two available quotas in the event through Sunidhi Chauhan and Gaayathri Nithyanadam who are currently fighting for a spot in the top 8.

• Though Tuesday features three finals, only four Olympic quotas will be allocated as the quota was revoked for the men's 25m rapid fire pistol due to India's stand-off with Pakistan. 

READ: ISSF WC: Pakistan Olympic Association hails IOC decision on revoking quota places

 

 

 

 

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.