Shooting World Cup: Anjum Moudgil wins silver as India remain on top with eight medals

Anjum Moudgil won silver in the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions (3P) event at the ongoing ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun stage in Guadalajara, Mexico.

In windy conditions on day six, Anjum shot brilliantly to finish behind China’s Ruijiao Pei 455.4 to 454.2 after the 45-shot final. China’s Ting Sun claimed Bronze, finishing with a score of 442.2.

This was India’s eighth medal of the competition and the first silver after having won three golds and four Bronze medals already, for their best ISSF World Cup performance ever.

Anjum remained in medal contention from the beginning of the final and at the end of the 15-shot kneeling position stood third behind Ruijiao and Slovakia’s Ziva Dvorsak. She pulled into the lead after the second 5-shot prone position series, which followed the kneeling position and was 0.9 points clear of German world number one Jolyn Beer at the end of it. After the 15-shot prone series she was still in the lead however after the 10th shot of the last standing series when the first two finalists out of the eight were eliminated, Anjum had gone down to fourth position.

A fine 10.8 in the 41st shot took her up to second and she maintained that position finishing with scores of 10.2, 10.1, 9.5 and 10.2 to secure a deserving silver.

Heartbreak for Bhanwala

In the Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol it was heartbreak for 15-year old Anish Bhanwala, who stood third after the first precision round with a solid 294 and a real chance to make it amongst the top six finalists. However, after looking comfortable in the second rapid fire round on Thursday, beginning with a solid 99 and following up with a 97, scores of 7,9,10,8,8 in the final series of five shots pulled him down to seventh place.

Anish ended with 578, the same score as sixth place qualifier Zhaonan Hao of China, but with one lesser 10 than the Chinese. Neeraj Kumar, the second India in the fray, also had a similar last series to finish with 569 and in 13th place.

India still lead the medals tally with eight medals (3 Gold, 1 Silver, 4 Bronze) while China is in second and catching up with five medals till now (2 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 bronze).