India had a fruitful day at the year’s second International Shooting Sport World Cup in Beijing winning both the gold medals on offer on Thursday.
Anjum Moudgil and Divyansh Singh Panwar won the 10m air rifle mixed team gold while Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary won the 10m air pistol mixed team gold. Both events were contested under the new mixed team format, which has two teams competing at the same time.
The ISSF had decided to change to a system of semi-finals followed by two medal matches with two teams in each match.
This is the second consecutive gold for teen stars Bhaker and Chaudhary, who had topped the podium at the season-opening World Cup in Delhi as well. For Panwar, this was his first gold medal at the World Cup level while Moudgil had earlier missed out on a podium finish in the women’s 10m air rifle event.
In the rifle final, the Indian pair beat Chinese pair of Liu Ruxuan and Yang Haoran to claim gold. In the closely contested final, the Chinese duo took a 13-11 lead before India called for a time out. Moudgil and Panwar came roaring back to level the series 13-13.
China, once again, took a lead and India had to come from behind to level it 15-15 before winning 17-15. The bronze went to Russia’s Yulia Karimova and Grigorii Shamakov.
In the pistol final, the Indian pair defeated Jiang Ranxin and Pang Wei of China by a comprehensive margin of 16-6 in the gold medal match. The Indian teen sensations lead the field from the start and maintained the lead to finish on top of the podium.