India’s Om Prakash Mitharval finished seventh in the men’s 10m air pistol final at the fourth International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol in Munich, Germany, finishing outside the medals in his second such final of the year. Mitharval had finished fourth in Guadalajara, Mexico earlier in the year.
This was India’s second final of the ongoing world cup after Apurvi Chandela finished fourth on Thursday in the women’s 10m air pistol.
Mitharval shot 582 out of 600 in qualifying to make it to the star studded eight-man final in sixth place but only three scores of 10-plus in his first 10 final shots out of a maximum 24, put paid to his hopes of a first ever ISSF World Cup medal. Oleh Omelchuk of Ukraine won the event in a world record effort of 243.6, ahead of German Rio Olympic champion Christian Reitz and Chinese Qigeng Pu.
Mitharval, who warded off earlier elimination with a couple of 10s, eventually shot 8.8 off his 14th shot and with a total score of 136.9 in the finals, he became the second player to leave the field in the final.
Shahzar Rizvi, recently crowned world No 1 in the event, and Jitu Rai, the two other Indians in the event, shot scores of 579 and 577 to finish 12th and 28th respectively in the qualification stages.
Rahi Sarnobat was the best finishing Indian in the Women’s 25m Pistol, shooting 577 in qualifying to finish 30th. Heena Sidhu shot 577 for a 34th place finish while Annu Raj Singh shot 572 to claim 48th spot.
In the Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event, seasoned Sanjeev Rajput shot 1176 in qualifying to finish 16th, while youngsters Swapnil Kusale and Akhil Sheoran shot 1171 and 1160 to end in 33rd and 70th positions respectively.
Saturday has only the Men’s 10m Air Rifle final scheduled with Ravi Kumar, Deepak Kumar and Arjun Babuta carrying Indian hopes of a medal.
