Prithviraj Tondaiman lived on the edge for most of the final to clinch a bronze in the Men’s Trap event as the ISSF World Cup Shotgun in Lonato, Italy, concluded on Sunday. This was his second individual ISSF World Cup bronze, after breaking through in Doha earlier this year and India’s only medal of the Lonato World Cup stage. He shot 34, to bow out in third place after 40-targets. Great Britain’s Nathan Hales won the 50-shot final with a score of 49, while China’s Qi Ying took silver with 48-hits.
Coming ahead of the World Championships next month in Baku which has 48 Paris 2024 Olympics quotas to offer, Tondaiman said, “It could have been better but I am happy. It’s great confidence before the World Championship.”
Earlier, Tondaiman qualified for the six-man final with a score of 122 in qualification. Hales topped with 123 while Qi was second with the same score, but went down 3-2 in a shoot-off to determine bib numbers. Tondaiman also won the four-way shoot-off to determine places three to six, with five straight hits.
In the final, Tondaiman had to survive three elimination stages to win bronze. The first was after 25-shots, when Briton Aaron Heading bowed out with 20-hits, with Tondaiman managing 21.
Then after 30-targets, Turkey’s Tolga Tuncer managed 24-hits to the Indian’s 25 to finish fourth.
Then finally after 35-targets, Czech Republic’s Pavel Vanek missed his final two shots to tie with Tondaiman at 30-hits, but the Indian’s superior bib number meant the podium finish would be his.
The two other Indians in the competition were Bhowneesh Mendiratta and Zoravar Singh Sandhu. Bhowneesh, who won a quota in Men’s Trap at the World Championships last year, shot 120 in qualification to finish 14th while Zoravar was 53rd with a score of 115.