East is East, West is West, and India is the best in Shooting World Cup 2021

10M. Air Pistol Mixed Team. Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary.

        India wins five medals including three gold on Monday, to take their tally to 14 medals at ISSF World Cup 2021

                                                                          Rakesh Thapliyal

New Delhi: COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet, but it seems that It has made little impact on Indian shooters be it, Men or Women. They are looking physically fit, mentally tough & confident, and showing a feeling of strong determination  to perform better than ever at the ongoing ISSF World Cup 2021 here at Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range. India is not only on the top of the medal tally but way ahead of the other participating nations. One can say that East is East, West is West, and so far India is the best.

 India won three more gold medals on Monday to strengthen its leadership in the medal standings with a total of 14 medals won so far, which include six gold, four silver, and four bronze medals. The hosts won five medals in all of the day. Hungary, USA, Iran, Qatar, and Kazakhstan won one medal each.

 India began competition day four by winning the 10M Air Rifle Mixed Team event, followed by the 10M Air Pistol Mixed Team competition, before the Skeet Men’s team struck gold in the last final of the day. India also won Silver in the Women’s Skeet Team competition as well as a bronze in the 10M Air Pistol Mixed Team event.

The first final of the day pitted India’s former world number one pairing of Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar against Hungary’s Champion Rifle shooter Istvan Peni and Denes Eszter, who is ranked nine in the world and won the bronze in the individual Women’s 10M Air Rifle in this very World Cup. 

 As expected, it was a closely fought encounter, with both pairs tied 10-10 at one stage, before Elavenil and Divyansh broke away with some world-class Shooting, to get a 16-10 result in their favor. Earlier, the USA had won bronze, beating Poland 17-15 in the Bronze Medal match.

 In the day’s second final, India’s young pistol aces Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary began tentatively, but eventually found their groove to put it across Iran’s Golnoush Sebghatollahi and Javad Foroughi 16-12, in the 10M Air Pistol Mixed Team competition. Foroughi had earlier won the individual gold in Men’s 10M Air Pistol on Saturday. It was a well-fought final till the last shot. When the score was leveled 12-12 coach of the Iran team asked for the time out and whispered ‘Guru Mantra’ in the ears of his disciples but of no use. Saurabh and Manu showed once again that they are masters of this event.  They have won Gold Medals in all four World Cups in 2019. The NRAI President Raninder Singh was amongst the few shooters, officials, and journalists present in the range to cheer Saurabh and Manu throughout the Gold Medal match.

The bronze medal in the event also went to India, when Yashaswini Deswal and Abhishek Verma beat the Turkish pair of Sevval Tarhan and Ismail Keles 17-13 in the third-place match.

Gurjoat Khangura, Mairaj Ahmad Khan, and Angad Vir Singh Bajwa showing their Gold medals after winning the Men’s Skeet Team competition.

India’s third gold of the day came in the last of the four finals when the Men’s Skeet Team consisting of Mairaj Ahmad Khan, Angad Vir Singh Bajwa, and Gurjoat Khangura beat a top-notch Qatar squad 6-2 in the Gold Medal match. For them, this is already the second medal in this event. Earlier they won Bronze at the World Cup in Egypt last month where the Men’s Skeet Team event took place for the first time. The silver-winning Qatar team had Nasser Al-Attiya (Olympic bronze medallist), Rashid Hamad, who won the Men’s Skeet bronze at the Cairo Shotgun World Cup, and Ali Ahmed Al-Ishaq, currently ranked 45 in the world.

Ganemat Sekhon, Parinaaz Dhaliwal, and Karttiki Singh Shaktawat after winning Silver in the Women’s Skeet team competition.

The only other gold medal on offer on the day was won by Kazakhstan in the Women’s Skeet team competition when they overcame a spirited young Indian team 6-4 in the Gold Medal match. Ganemat Sekhon, who became the first Indian woman to win an individual ISSF World Cup medal in Skeet on Sunday, when she won bronze in the Women’s Skeet competition, followed that up with silver along with teammates Parinaaz Dhaliwal and Kartiki Singh Shaktawat.

The competition continues tomorrow with the Skeet Mixed Team event which is included in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games program.