Doha: Talented shooter Suruchi Singh came up with yet another commanding performance to clinch the women’s 10m air pistol gold, while compatriot Sainyam took the silver as India made a big splash on the opening day of the season-ending ISSF World Cup Final, in Doha Saturday.
World champion in men’s 10m air pistol, Samrat Rana came agonisingly close to a top-podium finish before settling for bronze, while country-mate Varun Tomar ended up fourth after a promising start on an eventful day.
After a disappointing outing by the 10m rifle exponents earlier during the day, Suruchi lit up the day by firing a superb 245.1 in the final on her way to the top podium finish, while former junior world champion Sainyam made it a gold-silver finish for the country with a score of 243.3.
“After the second series I told myself this is what I should be doing and I should not be looking at the score and it worked,” said Suruchi after winning the gold.
Double Olympic bronze-medallist Manu Bhaker, who also made it to the final, finished fifth tallying 179.2.
Suruchi, who was ranked No.1 in the world in September-October following four back-to-back World Cup gold medals earlier this year, was in great form as she finished the qualification round in the elite 12-shooter field in second place with an aggregate of 586.
Bhaker (578) came in sixth, while Sainyam (573), the 2023 junior world champion, barely managed to make the final after finishing eighth in qualification.
However, the final saw the 21-year-old Sainyam in a different zone altogether as she led the field for a major part of the final before conceding the top spot to Suruchi after shooting four below-average scores of 9.5 each in the elimination round.
Suruchi, the daughter of a Havildar hailing from Jhajjar — the same district as Bhaker — earned Euro 5,000 for her effort, while Sainyam received a pay cheque of Euro 4,000.
Samrat bags men’s air pistol bronze
Karnal shooter Samrat, who recently became the 10m air pistol world champion in Cairo, looked set for another blazing performance in Doha. But a couple of rank-poor shots in the final cost him a potential silver — or, perhaps gold — as China’s Hu Kai took sweet revenge on the Indian.
“I like this range and winning bronze in the first ever world cup final in an achievement for me. I was struggling in the last 1-2 shots but I enjoyed it and I am happy,” said Samrat.
“I am gaining confidence in competing with the Olympic and World champions and that feels great.”
Hu Kai, who was pushed to second spot in the Worlds at Cairo by Samrat, went on to clinch gold, while veteran German marksman and 2016 Rio Olympics gold medallist in 25m rapid-fire pistol, Christian Reitz took the silver.
Samrat shot 221.5 in the eight-shooter final, while Tomar, the Worlds bronze medallist, came in fourth, totalling 201.2.
In the qualification round, Samrat shot 584 to be placed second, while Baghpat marksman Tomar was sixth with a score of 578.
Rifle shooters disappoint
India’s former world champion Rudrankksh Patil and Paris Olympic finalist Arjun Babuta missed out on medals in men’s 10m air rifle, finishing fourth and sixth respectively.
Elavenil Valarivan also came up short in women’s 10m air rifle, finishing ninth in the qualification round, failing to make the eight-shooter final.
Rudrankksh, the 2022 world champion who has shown good form this season by clinching the World Cup gold in Buenos Aires, came into the star-studded final after finishing fourth in the qualification round with a score of 631.9.
Babuta entered the eight-shooter final after finishing third 633.3 even as double Olympic gold medallist at the Paris Olympics, China’s Sheng Lihao led the field tallying 637.7, while former world champion Victor Lindgren of Sweden was second with a score of 633.5.
The top-class final saw Rudrankksh shoot just one below-par score of 9.8 in his second shot of the first series, which made the difference in the end as the Indian tallied 209.9.
Lindgren took the gold and Euro 5,000 in prize cheque with a score of 253.0, while Lihao bagged the silver (252.6) and Euro 4,000 in prize money.
Another stalwart, Hungary’s Istvan Peni won the bronze.
Elavenil, fresh from her World Championships bronze medal in Cairo, could not make the eight-shooter final as she finished ninth in qualification with a score of 630.
World Championships bronze medallist in trap, Zorawar Sandhu was placed ninth among 12 shooters after he notched up 70/75 on day one of competition.
He shot 23, 24 and 23 in the three round of 25 each, and will return to the range on Sunday for two more rounds before the six finalists can be spotted.
The veteran marksman is the sole entry from India in the shotgun competition.
PTI
