BHARAT KI JAI JAI in Shooting World Cup 2021 -

BHARAT KI JAI JAI in Shooting World Cup 2021

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 India on top with best ever performance in the medal tally

15 Gold

 09 Silver

 06 Bronze

30 Medals

(L-R) Shreyasi Singh, Manisha Keer, Rajeshwari Kumari with their Women’s Trap Team gold medal at Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range on Sunday.

 Double Gold for Host in Men and WomenTrapTeam events

Rakesh Thapliyal

New Delhi: Coronavirus may have played havoc in the world for more than a year, but this dangerous virus could not affect the strength and skill of Indian shooters, be it, men or women. This is evident from the fact that India got the top spot in the medal tally with 15 Gold, 9 Silver and 6 Bronze for a total of 30 medals the best ever performance in the ISSF world cup 2021.

 

Hosts India signed off from the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun stage at New Delhi’s Dr. Karni Singh Shooting range in style on Sunday, winning double gold in the Trap Men’s and Women’s Team competitions respectively. 

 

The Women’s Trap Team comprising Shreyasi Singh, Manisha Keer and Rajeshwari Kumari, brought India’s first gold of the day when they beat Kazakhstan in the one-sided final by a big margin of 6-0. They won the first 5-shot each series 12-11, the second11-8and the third by a margin of 12-9 to completely outplay the Kazakhs.  In this event, two points are awarded for winning each 15-shot series, while the team split points if the scores are tied. The first team to reach six or more points wins.

Shreyasi with her team coach Manager Singh.

Shreyasi Singh, an MLA from Bihar, missed the bronze medal on Saturday with Kynan Chenai in Trap Mixed team event, shoot brilliantly to brought gold medal for India and joy for her mother, who clapped with pride and gave a standing ovation to the shooters and said “Izzat bach gayi”, with the feelings of great relief because she had seen Shreyasi losing a bronze medal match yesterday.

Shreyasi Singh with her mother after winning the gold medal.

Shreyasi is the daughter of Late Digvijay Singh, a former Union Minister and former President of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI). Soon after winning the gold medal she came to the stands and touched her mother’s feet, who hugged her and gave blessings. This scene was repeated after the medal ceremony in the Final Range for Pistol and Rifle.

(L-R)- Lakshay Sheoran, Prithviraj Tondaiman, Kynan Chenai after winning the Men’s Trap Team gold at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range on Sunday.

The Men’s Trap trio of Kynan Chenai, Prithviraj Tondaiman and Lakshay Sheoran beat Slovakia 6-4 in a much more tightly contested final. The Slovaks won the first series 13-12 but India hit right back to level at 2-2 after winning the second series 13-12 themselves. The Slovaks however took the lead again by winning the third 13-11. The determined Indian trio hit right back again by winning the fourth 14-11 with both Prithviraj and Lakshay hitting all five targets. The score was tied with 4-4 and suddenly NRAI President Raninder Singh, who himself is a Trap shooter, entered in the Range, sat in a front-row seat and started cheering the shooters. In his presence, Lakshay hit the target with brilliance and he clapped and loudly said “Shabash,” in reply Lakshay put his arm up and thanked him with the sign of thumbs up but in between, he lost his concentration and missed the next target. everyone, except few Slovak shooters and their coaches, was shocked and started praying for the host team. In the fifth and final series, India won 13-11 to take the match at 6-4.

25M Rapid Fire Pistol Men’s Team Event Podium shot USA team (Gold) and Indian team of Gurpreet Singh, Vijayveer Sidhu and Adarsh Singh (Silver).

India also won a silver in the first final scheduled on the final day, the Men’s 25M Rapid Fire Pistol Men’s Team competition. India’s Gurpreet Singh, Vijayveer Sidhu and Adarsh Singh went down to the USA 2-10 in the final. There were only two series of five Rapid Fire shots where the Indians were able to split points. This was the USA’s fourth gold of the tournament, and they finished outright second with four gold, three silver and one bronze medal for a total of eight medals.

Raninder Singh had said before the start of the world cup that “We have to set the example for other Nations.” In times of uncertainty, India hosted a very successful ISSF world cup, no doubt about that,  but one thing that needs to be addressed is a last-minute change in the schedule. Rescheduling of some of the matches was not informed properly to the media also and because of that many missed the 25M Rapid Fire Pistol Men’s Team competition on the final day.

A total of 22 countries won medals over 10 competition days. A total of 294 shooters representing 53 countries took part in the tournament, which was the first International Olympic sporting event to have taken place in the country post the Corona virus-induced lockdowns last year.

 

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