India’s shooting contingent made two more finals, but weren’t able to stand on the podium on the second day of the ISSF World Cup Final in Doha, Qatar on Wednesday.
Ganemat Sekhon finished second at the end of day one of qualifications in the women’s skeet, raising hopes yet again, even as Hriday Hazarika and Elavenil Valarivan in the men’s and women’s air rifle registered two more seventh place finishes after reaching the top eights, emulating Divya TS’s effort in the women’s air pistol from day one.
Early on Wednesday, Hazarika shot 629.4 to qualify in eighth place while Valarivan also took the eighth and final qualifying spot with a score of 630.8.
The Indians who missed out on a top-eight spot on the day were Rudrankksh Patil among the men and Ramita Jindal and Mehuli Ghosh among women. While the former shot a subdued 626.1 to finish 13th, Jindal and Ghosh were ninth and 10th with scores of 629.4 and 628.3 respectively.
In the men’s air rifle final, Hazarika began with a 10.6 and returned a score of 51.9 after the first five-shot series to be in fifth position. His eighth shot was a 10.9 but his fifth and sixth being in the nine-ring meant he would go down to seventh after 10 shots. He did improve to sixth after his 12th shot but German Maximillian Ulbrich outgunned him in the 13th and 14th as the Indian bowed. Zalan Pekler of Hungary won gold.
Tokyo Olympian Valarivan, who already has a World Cup final gold to her name, began her final with a solid 10.8 only to follow-up with a 9.9 which pegged her back in a world-class field. After 10-shots, Valarivan was in elimination zone, however, Tokyo Olympic medallist Mary Tucker of the USA was to take eighth place with a low 10 on the 12th as the Indian survived, only to become the third Indian in two days to exit in seventh after the 14th shot. Poland’s Aneta Stankiewicz won gold as Zhiling Wang of China took silver.
In the women’s skeet, Sekhon began shot three identical rounds of 24/25 to place second on countback to leader Assem Orynbay of Kazakhstan. The duo was among four shooters on the same score of 72, including skeet legend Kimberly Rhode of the United States.
Prithviraj Tondaiman in the men’s trap had two rounds of 46 to begin with and was outside the top six.