Changwon (South Korea): Indian shooter Om Prakash Mitharwal picked up his maiden gold medal at the ISSF World Championships, claiming the top honours in the 50m pistol event here Tuesday while Heena Sidhu and Manu Bhaker failed to make any impact.
The 23-year-old, a bronze-winner in the 10m air pistol and the 50m pistol events of the CWG, Gold Coast earlier this year, shot a score of 564 to finish on top here. The silver went to Serbia’s Damir Mikec (562), while the bronze medal was bagged by local favourite Daemyung Lee (560).
However, in the team competition of the same category, Mitharwal, Rai and Manjit (532) combined for a fifth-place finish with a total score of 1648.
The ongoing championship is the first qualifying event for the 2020 Olympics but since 50m pistol is no longer a part of the Games roster, there were no quota places to be sealed. The seasoned Jitu Rai, who won a silver medal in the 2014 edition of the tournament, endured disappointment as he finished 17th in the individual field with a below-par score of 552 while Manjit finished at 56th.
The women shooters, who could have sealed Olympic qualification, faltered in the 10m air pistol event. Teen sensation Bhaker, after a medal-less Asian Games campaign, and senior shooter Sidhu were off-colour and both failed to make the finals.
Bhaker shot a score of 574 to be 13th, while Sidhu was further down at 29th with a total of 571. The Indian team finished fourth with Bhaker, Sidhu and Shweta Singh (568) combining for a total of 1713.