NEW DELHI: Sanjeev Rajput and Harveen Srao made the finals in men’s rifle 3-position and women’s air pistol events, but the medals continued to elude the Indian grasp in the shooting World Cup at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Sunday.
Also, Rio Olympians Heena Sidhu and Chain Singh narrowly missed making the finals.
After Pooja Ghatkar won the women’s air rifle bronze on the opening day, the Indian shooters have made the final of every event so far, except women’s trap, but have not been able to strike.
The 36-year-old Sanjeev, who has a gold and two silver medals in World Cups and has been twice Asian champion, looked set to arrest the trend in the 30 shots of kneeling and prone during the final.
However, Sanjeev who had pipped compatriot Chain Singh for the last spot in the final with a 1159, slipped to sixth spot after 10 shots in the standing position, when air rifle silver medallist Peter Sidi and Pan Junhui of China bowed out.
He edged ahead of Japan’s Toshikazu Yamashita, but was pushed to fifth by 0.1 point by Napis Tortungpanich of Thailand.
Hui Zicheng won his sixth World Cup, beating compatriot Sun Jian.
Interestingly, Hui had trailed in the fifth spot after the kneeling and prone phase of the final, but caught up dramatically in the climax, winding up with a brilliant 10.6 on the last shot.
Chain Singh was in the reckoning with rounds of 390 out of 400 in kneeling and prone, but the wind shook him in the standing position and pushed him down to 377.
Two-time World University champion Harveen Srao squeezed her way into the final with a 379 in women’s air pistol, but lacked the experience to strike in the climax.
The junior bronze medallist in the 2006 World Championship, the 30-year-old Harveen was handicapped for lack of experience in the
finals.
It was only her second final in a World Cup after the one in Fort Benning in 2007. She had placed fourth in the 2006 Doha Asian Games.
Heena Sidhu had all the experience, but struggled in the qualification phase with 95, 94, 94 and 95, that saw her miss the final by one point.
Her World record was bound to go owing to the new format, but Heena was expected to fight for a medal, particularly in the light of having focused only on air pistol and skipped the 25-metre sports
pistol.
The Chinese won five gold medals out of seven, with Lin Yuemei beating reigning Olympic champion Zhang Mengxue by three points for the air pistol gold.
China was on top of the medals table with five gold and four silver, while Italy and Australia were the only other teams to bag a gold so far.
India was on par in the fifth place with Azerbaijan, Spain, Finland, Japan, Singapore and Switzerland with a bronze.
In the mixed trap competition, Seema Tomar (40) and Kynan Chenai (47) placed 10th and missed the final by three points. Zoravar Singh Sandhu shot 49 out of 50, but with Manisha Keer (33) he was placed 14th with a total of 82.
In the test event that is being recommended for Olympic entry in Tokyo 2020, China won the gold through Wang Xiaojing and Yu Shuo who beat Natalie Rooney and Owen Robinson of New Zealand 25-21.
The Italian pair of Valerio Grazini and Alesia Iezzi won the bronze beating Alberto Fernandez and Fatima Galvez of Spain 28-21.
The results:
Men: 50m rifle 3-position: 1. Hui Zicheng (Chn) 454.2 (1176); 2. Sun Jian (Chn) 451.6 (1177); 3. Jan Lochbihler (Sui) 44.2 (1163); 5. Sanjeev Rajput 420.6 (1159); 9. Chain Singh 1157; 13. Satyendra Singh 1154. MQS: Akhil Sheoran 1155.
Women: 10m air pistol: 1. Lin Yuemei (Chn) 248.8 (WR) 380; 2. Zhang Mengxue (Chn) 237.8 (380); 3. Shun Xie Teo (Sgp) 217.4 (380); 7. Harveen Srao 133.6 (379); 11. Heena Sidhu 378; 36. Priyanka Susvirkar 364. MQS: Yasha Singh 378.
