Shooting World Championship: Mehuli Ghosh won bronze in 10m air rifle, secured Olympic quota

New Delhi: Mehuli Ghosh clinched a bronze medal in the women’s 10m air rifle event at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship in Baku, Azerbaijan on Saturday to claim an Olympic quota place for India. India won the gold medal in the women’s 10m air rifle team event, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) said in a press release today.

Riding on the efforts of the air rifle women shooters, India ended the day with two gold and two bronze medals to finish third in the medals tally behind top-ranked China and second-ranked USA. Kolkata-based Indian shooter Mehuli, who had topped qualifying with 634.5 at the start of the day, shot 229.8 in the 24-shot eight-women final to end the 22-shot third.

This score was enough for him to claim an Olympic quota. China won the gold and silver medals with Han Jiayu’s 251.4 and Wang Zhilin’s 250.2. India’s 15-year-old Tilottama Sen won hearts by finishing in an impressive fourth place. However, India teamed up with Tilottama and Ramita to win the 10m air rifle women’s team event with a total score of 1895.9, while China came second with a total score of 1893.7.

Germany won the bronze medal. A jubilant Mehuli said after the final, “I am very happy with the bronze medal and the Olympic quota. I hope that I will be able to make you all proud in the future as well and bring more medals for the country. Regarding the finals, Mehuli said, “I was very excited and nervous for the finals. In fact, I can still feel nervous.

There was very little difference between each of us. It was very exciting and I am happy with the result.” The women’s 10m air rifle was the last final of the day as it started late in the evening. By then, India had run out of medals in the men’s skeet and men’s 10m air rifle team events. Earlier, Mehuli topped the qualification stage in women’s 10m air rifle with a national record score of 634.5, while Tilottama finished sixth in qualifying with 631.3.

Ramita, who shot in the first relay and was the third Indian in the field, also shot well but finished 11th with 630.1. The top eight also featured youngest ISSF World Cup medalist Martina Lindsay Veloso, apart from two Indians and two Chinese. Swiss Ode Gogniat, Iranian Amirani Chehel and in-form Frenchwoman Oceane Muller completed the final line-up.

Other results of the day for India:

Divyansh Singh Panwar was the top Indian finisher in the men’s 10m air rifle with a qualification score of 627.5. He finished 28th. Aishwarya Tomar shot 627.3 to finish 33rd while Hriday Hazarika finished 68th with 623.6.

In men’s skeet, Angad Vir Singh Bajwa shot well for a score of 121 in qualification but finished 29th. Anant Jit Singh Naruka shot 120 to finish tied-44th, while Gurjot Khangura shot 115 to finish tied-95th.