Good news to start off a Sunday as Indian shooters in Mexico have hit the bull’s eye!
Meerut-born debutant Shahzar Rizvi clinched the gold medal with a world record score in a memorable maiden ISSF World Cup appearance, while Jitu Rai and Mehuli Ghosh bagged a bronze each in Guadalajara, Mexico. The ace shooter scored a world record 242.3 points in the 10m air pistol events final to beat reigning Olympic champion Christian Reitz of Germany, 239.7, to win the top prize.
Ace shooter Rai won the bronze in the event with a score of 219, as three Indians made it to the finals of the season’s first World Cup. Om Prakash Mitharval, the other Indian shooter in the event, finished at the creditable fourth position with a score of 198.4 points. Mehuli, also a senior World Cup debutant, added to India’s medal tally as she shot a world junior record 228.4 points to win bronze in the women’s 10m air rifle event.
Shahzar Rizvi wins GOLD Medal with WR score of 242.3 pts
Jitu Rai wins Bronze
Event: 10 m Pistol Men Final in ISSF World Cup Shooting #ISSFWC pic.twitter.com/wc3Dixtwpa— Khel India (@khel_India) March 4, 2018
In this women’s event too, three Indian shooters progressed to the final. Anjum Moudgil finished fourth with 208.6 points, while Apurvi Chandela was seventh in the standings with 144.1 points. India had a fruitful opening day in the competition as they won three medals — a gold and two bronze. Shahzar finished second in the qualifying, behind Reitz, scoring 579 to the German’s 588 after 60 shots. Rai was one behind Shahzar with 578, while Om Prakash shot to score 576 to qualify in the fourth place.
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While Jitu and Om Prakash maintained their positions at the end of the finals, Shahzar turned the tables on Reitz in style, staying ahead of the classy German throughout the length of the 24-shot final. In the women’s 10m air rifle final, Mehuli and Anjum were in contention for the medal from the beginning, and after a see-saw battle between the two, a 9.9 on the 17th shot meant Anjum ended in the fourth position with a score of 208.6.
ISSF World Cup: Debutant Shahzar Rizvi wins gold with world record, Jitu Rai gets bronze
https://t.co/LtYbbTOHMz pic.twitter.com/T7LjWcQLbL— Taya Amritsaria (@AmritsariaTaya) March 3, 2018
Mehuli won bronze while China’s Hong Xu won silver with 251.0 points. Romania’s Laura Georgeta Coman, who won gold in the Munich World Cup last year and a silver at the World Cup Finals, came up with a classy display, leading throughout to win the gold medal with 251.5 points.
