Shooting is one of the sports where Indians tend to perform fairly well; unlike many other sporting disciplines. After our much vaunted shooters failed to make a mark in the Rio Olympics, there was cause for cheer recently at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup. There was cause for cheer thanks to shooters Jitu Rai, Ankur Mittal and Amanpreet Singh.
In the 50m pistol event, ace shooter Jitu Rai won his event; making a brilliant comeback. His total of 230.1 points was a world record as well.
In the 10 m pistol event, Jitu Rai earlier had to be satisfied with just a bronze medal. This was his fourth world cup medal. Until this, the ISSF event was turning out to be a poor outing for the Indian shooters.
In the same event where Jitu Rai won a gold medal, Indian shooter Amanpreet Singh won the silver medal with his aggregate of 226.9 points.
Earlier, Indian shooter Ankur Mittal finished second at the podium for his double trap event. His tally of 74 points was good enough for the Silver.
Considering that this is a home event (the World Cup event is currently ongoing in New Delhi at the Karni Stadium) where Indian shooters were expected to capitalise on familiar conditions and home support, the showing has been poorer than expected. Shooters such as Zoravar Singh Sandhu and Neeraj Kumar who were medal hopefuls failed to win.
In the ISSF Junior World Cup held in Gabala (Azerbaijan) last September, Indian shooters performed will to finish second overall with a clutch of 9 gold medals, 5 silvers and 10 bronze medals.
Do you have something interesting you would like to share? Write to us at [email protected]
