India shooters Heena Sidhu and Jitu Rai clinched gold at the mixed team 10m air pistol event on Monday at the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup Rifle/Pistol series being held in Gabala, Azerbaijan. This is the pair’s second World Cup gold following their success at in Delhi back in February.
The pair staged a recovery from 0-4 down to prevails 7-6 to give India some cheer at the Gabala World Cup, according to a report by The Times of India.
World Championship and Asian Games silver medallist Rai has combined forces with Sidhu, a former world number one for the mixed team event.
The mixed team air pistol event is one of the new events added for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
However, the mixed event is being used on a trial basis in line with IOC’s aim to achieve gender equality in its 2020 Tokyo Olympics program, and therefore medals are not being awarded even though the ISSF executive committee has ratified the recommendations.
In February at the ISSF World Cup in Delhi, the duo had beaten Japan in the finals to win gold in the event which was conducted for the first time then.