India’s Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat missed out on spots in the final of the women’s 25m air pistol event at the season-ending International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup Final in Putian, China on Wednesday.
India’s wait for a podium finish will continue into the third day of competition after Anish Bhanwala also missed out on a place in the final of the men’ 25m rapid fire pistol event. He finished 10th in the qualification round with a score of 578 (19x) while the sixth place score was 583-21x.
It was heartbreak for Bhaker as she missed out on a final berth over a tie-breaker. Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Bhaker shot 292 and 291 in the precision and rapid events respectively for a total of 583 in the qualifiers.
While two other shooters, Germany’s Doreen Vennekamp and Elena Galiabovitch of Australia, also ended with a qualification score of 583, the German qualified owing to a superior tally of inner 10s. Bhaker and Galiabovitch had 17 inner 10s, while Vennekamp shot 23.
Asian Games champion Sarnobat, on the other hand, had a disappointing outing. She finished last among the elite shooting group in the qualifiers with a score of 569.
The Indian shooters had a forgettable outing on day one as well, where Sanjeev Rajput came closest to qualification for the final. He missed out by a solitary point in men’s 3-position rifle event.
On Thursday, Indians will be in action in the 10m air pistol and air rifle events and would be expected to open the medal tally with shooters in those categories in good form through the season.
