New Delhi, May 30: The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Munich brought double joy for India on the fourth day of the event. In the Women’s 10-meter Air Pistol category, Suruchi Inder Singh clinched the gold medal, while Esha Singh secured silver. With this achievement, India has risen to the top of the medal tally.
Suruchi scored 242.1, successfully defending her gold medal from last year’s Olympic shooting range. Esha followed closely with a score of 241.2, earning her silver. The bronze medal went to Korea’s Chu Geun.
In this year’s second ISSF World Cup leg, India now boasts two golds and one silver medal. Two mixed events in rifle and pistol are scheduled for Saturday.
Earlier in the day, the duo barely made it to the finals, securing the last two qualification spots. Both shooters scored 578, narrowly surpassing the current Olympic champion Oh Ye-jin by just one point. Chu topped the qualification round with a score of 583. Other finalists included London Olympic silver medalist Celine Gobervil from France and Bulgaria’s Miroslava Mincheva, who scored 580. Miroslava is the reigning European champion, having won bronze in the 25-meter pistol event just two days prior.
Suruchi’s start was slightly slower compared to Esha. After the first series of five shots, she was in fifth place, while Esha was in third, trailing behind Celine and Chu. As the final progressed, Suruchi found her rhythm. Esha and Celine had fluctuating performances, while Chu steadily maintained her lead.
By the end of the 14th round, Suruchi was putting up a strong fight for the gold, scoring over 10 in three consecutive shots. Esha and Celine fell behind, landing in fourth and fifth places.
The 15th and 16th rounds were particularly thrilling. Initially, Celine and Esha were tied for third, but Celine dropped out in sixth place, allowing both Indian shooters to position themselves for medals. This put pressure on Chu, as Suruchi and Esha consistently scored near the 10-ring. After the 19th shot, Suruchi took the lead, and by the 20th shot, Esha secured her medal.
Esha needed to build a 1.2-point lead over Suruchi in the final two shots. Before the 24th and last shot, the gap had widened to 1.3 points. Despite Esha scoring 10.7, Suruchi’s 10.3 helped her easily retain her gold in Munich.
Esha also claimed her second medal in this competition. Earlier, she had won gold in the Women’s 25-meter pistol event with a world record score.
In two other men’s events, India missed out on medals under unfortunate circumstances. In the Men’s 50-meter Rifle 3 Positions event, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar qualified in sixth place with a score of 592. However, he was disqualified after a random check revealed discrepancies in his weapon’s measurements. Meanwhile, Rudranksh Patil scored 585 and finished in 53rd place. In the Men’s 25-meter Rapid-Fire Pistol event, Anish scored 577, placing 27th, while Udayveer Sidhu (574) and Suraj Sharma (574) finished 37th and 39th, respectively.
Leave a Comment