ISSF World Cup: Rifle shooter Nischal wins silver medal: Rio D – Dainik Savera Times

जेनरो: Teenage Indian rifle shooter Nischal won a silver medal in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup rifle/pistol stage here, giving India its second medal on the final day of the tournament. His achievement becomes all the more credible given that this was his first senior World Cup final. Nischal finished behind Norwegian rifle Janet Hague Duestad in the final late Monday night with a score of 458.0.

Duestad is the reigning Air Rifle European Champion and 300m 3P World Champion and has 12 ISSF World Cup medals to his name, including five golds. She was also fourth in air rifle at the Tokyo Olympics. Nischal, who is in her first senior year and has won three international medals at the junior level, was in top shooting form throughout the day, and in the process broke the qualification national record in the women’s 3P.

After a hard day’s work, the teenager quipped, ‘This is my first World Cup final and I have a medal, so I’m very happy about it.’ It all started with the elimination rounds in the morning, where a total of 18 shooters out of 73 competitors were eliminated in two rounds. He scored a strong score of 587 in relay one and secured a place in the qualification.

Her two countrymen, national record holders in the previous qualification Anjum Moudgil and Ayushi Poddar, did the same, both shooting in relay two. Then in the qualification, Nischal scored a brilliant score of 592 including a perfect 200 in the prone position, erasing Anjum’s score of 591 which was made at the President Cup in Cairo last year. Anjum herself shot a strong score of 586, but finished 10th and missed the final by one point.

Ayushi stood at 35th position with 580. There was a great field in the final. Apart from Duestad, qualification topper (594) and world champion Wanru Miao of China, 2018 Youth Olympic champion Stefanie Grundsoe of Denmark, Italian Olympian Sofia Ceccarello and senior Polish shooter Anneta Stankiewicz were among the others. Not one to be surprised, Nischal was neck-and-neck with Duestad right from the start of the 45-shot final.

After the first 15 shots in the kneeling position she was 0.1 behind the Norwegian and after 15 shots in the prone position she was the same behind. By the time Ukraine’s Victoria Sukhorukova and Swiss shooter Chiara Leone became the first players in the standings to be eliminated after the first 10-shots, Duestad had opened up a lead of 0.7 over the Indian. The Norwegian’s 41st score of 9.4 was canceled out by Nischal’s 42nd score of 9.0 and the gap increased to 1.1.

A score of 8.4 in the 43rd almost cost her a medal, but Wanneru still fell behind the Indian and was eliminated in fourth place. Subsequently, Stefanie Grundsøy, who had moved up to second, shot 1.5 in her 44th shot. Scored 7.9, due to which Nischal had to be content with silver and himself with bronze medal. Duestad won the gold medal with scores of 10.2 and 461.5, clearly 3.5 ahead of the Haryana shooter.

Gurpreet Singh was also in action in the other medal events of the concluding day, but he could not make much headway and finished 15th in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol with a score of 574. The 16-member Indian contingent thus returned from the Rio World Cup with one gold and one silver and a creditable seventh place in the standings, considering that India had only limited participation in the event.

Elavenil Valarivan had won the gold medal in women’s 10 meter air rifle in spectacular fashion. Earlier in the week, on Monday, two more Indians, like Anjum, had missed out on a place in the final by a possible margin. Reigning Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat missed out on a place in the women’s 25m pistol final due to a low shot in the inner 10-ring. Also on Sunday, Chain Singh, another experienced Indian shooter, missed out on a place in the men’s 3P final by one point.