Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anisa Sayyed led with a score of 575 in the women's 25-metre sport pistol event, as bad light forced the postponement of the final at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, here on Wednesday.
Regaining her confidence after a below par fare in the Guangzhou Asian Games when she was placed 26th with a score of 566, Anisa was consistent throughout the day as she recorded a series of 96, 96, 96, 96, 95 and 96.
Anisa was two points behind Annuraj Singh after the precision series — 288 to 290 — but took an impressive six-point lead over her National teammate Rahi Sarnobat after the ‘duelling' series. Rahi, whose good work was undone by a below par third card of 91, was also unable to assert herself in her strong point — the ‘duelling' section.
In contrast to Anisa, Rahi had come up with a better score in the Asian Games with a 577 to be placed 10th.
Shweta Chaudhary was one point behind in the third spot while former champion Sushma Singh (569) and Heena Sidhu (565) were fourth and fifth. Annuraj could muster only 274 in ‘duelling' and was placed sixth at 564, the same as Rachna Devi.
Annuraj had shot 10 points more in the Asian Games and looked set for a good score at the halfway mark. Sonia Rai managed to make the final at 563 while Pushpanjali Rana missed out and was placed ninth at 558.
The low scores apart, it was a shame that the ‘world class' arena could not host the final after the qualification had finished by 5 p.m.
In fact, the final was originally scheduled to be held at 2.30 p.m., but the malfunctioning of the electronic scoring system which did not register some shots resulted in the delay.
Not justified
However, there was no justification for postponing the final to Thursday morning as there was a provision for special lighting for the targets at the specifically designed ‘final' range.
It is another matter that the target lights were non-functional despite not being used even once.
In a championship in which nearly 2,000 shooters have assembled from across the length and breadth of the country, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) could have done more to inspire the young shooters.
It was weird that the score display on each target did not show the names of the shooters though the bib number and the State were displayed.
This error was corrected for the women's sports pistol event to the relief of everyone.
