Shooting World Cup: India win two more gold, Anish misses Olympic quota chance

New Delhi, March 26, 2021

Mixed pair Tejaswini Sawant and Sanjeev Rajput and the 3P team of Chain Singh, Swapnil Kusale and Niraj Kumar won two more gold for the country as Indian shooters maintained their domination in the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun stage at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range here on Friday.

Besides these two gold medals, the hosts also added a silver and a bronze to their kitty. India has so far bagged 25 medals, including 12 gold, seven silver and six bronze.

Seasoned rifle shooters and Tokyo Olympic quota holders Tejaswini Sawant and Sanjeev Rajput clinched the day’s first gold in the 50M Rifle 3 Positions (3P) Mixed Team event. They beat the Ukranian team of Sehriy Kulish and Anna Ilina 31-29 in a closely contested final.

Later in the Men’s 3P team event, the trio of Chain Singh, Swapnil Kusale and Niraj Kumar beat USA 47-25 to claim the yellow metal.

However, despite the domination, India missed out on two outside chances to get two additional quota berths, above the 15 they have already won for the Tokyo Olympics on the day.

First, in the Rapid Fire Pistol, Anish Bhanwala, by virtue of his world ranking, needed to finish among the medals and also hope that Estonian Peeter and Poland’s Oscar Miliwek, finished outside it.

An outright gold would have been even easier for him, but even though all three Indians qualified for the final, only Vijayveer won a medal while Anish and Gurpreet Singh finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

The Rapid Fire Pistol event final was a thrilling affair. Vijayveer Sidhu and Estonia's Peeter Olesk were tied at 26-hits a piece after the eight allotted series of five shots each. The final was then decided in a Shoot off in which Vijayveer went down 1-4 to Olesk and had to be content with a silver.

Peeter, by virtue of this performance, assured himself of a quota place for the Tokyo Olympics.

Then in Trap, Kynan Chenai needed an outright gold to have a chance but finished fourth in a strong field. Former Shotgun World Champion, Daniele Resca of Italy, won the gold in the event while reigning World Champion Alberto Fernandez won silver. Valerio Grazini of Italy was third.

India’s bronze medal came in the Mixed 3P team of Sunidhi Chauhan and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar. They got the better of the American pair of Women’s Air Rifle Olympic Champion Virginia Thrasher and Timothy Sherry 31-15.

In the Women’s Trap, the gold went to Slovakia’s Rehak Stefecekova, while Poland’s Sandra Bernal won silver and Italy’s Fiammate Rossi won bronze.

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