Rahi Sarnobat clinches gold at ISSF World Cup
Olympic-bound Rahi Sarnobat displayed sensational form to clinch the women's 25m pistol gold medal at the ISSF shooting World Cup in Osijek in Croatia on Monday but teen sensation Manu Bhaker ended seventh in the same event. Sarnobat's gold is India's first in the ongoing edition after the country secured one silver and two bronze medals earlier in the tournament. Here are more details.
French shooter Mathilde Lamolle bagged the silver
Thirty-year-old Sarnobat fired a final score of 39 after qualifying second with a total of 591. Her stupendous performance in the final included perfect scores in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth series. The silver went to France's Mathilde Lamolle, who scored 31.
Sarnobat performed brilliantly in the rapid-fire round
In the qualification, Sarnobat fired a brilliant 296 in the rapid-fire round on Monday. Her precision score was an equally impressive 295 on Sunday. Bhaker recorded a total of 588 to qualify third after firing a 296 in the rapid-fire round on Monday following an impressive 292 in the precision round on Sunday.
Bhaker lost a shoot-off to Bulgaria's Viktoria Chaika
However, Bhaker was eliminated early in the final with a disappointing score of 11, losing a shoot-off to Bulgaria's Viktoria Chaika. Bhaker had teamed up with Saurabh Chaudhary for the 10m air pistol mixed team silver. She had earlier clinched the women's 10m air pistol team bronze with Sarnobat and Yashaswini Deswal.
Chaudhary won bronze; Abhishek Verma finished fifth
Earlier, Chaudhary had won the men's 10m air pistol individual bronze medal. He scored 220 in the final after qualifying with a score of 581, after also shooting 581 in the qualifying. Meanwhile, Abhishek Verma finished fifth in the same event with a score of 179.3. This is the last competitive outing for the Olympic-bound shooters before Tokyo Olympics.
