Shriyanka joins list of first-time world cup finalists

Khel Today Bureau

New Delhi: Paris Olympian Shriyanka Sadangi became the latest Indian shooter on this double legged South American sojourn to make the cut for a first ever individual world cup final, qualifying in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) event at the on-going International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun stage in Lima, Peru, on Thursday. She eventually finished eighth, exiting after the 10th shot of the Standing Position round, the 40th of the 45-shot final. Sagen Maddalena of the USA, the Paris silver medalist, won gold.

Sagen’s effort took the USA to the top of the medal tally with three golds and six medals. India was lying second at the end of competition day three, with two golds and a silver and bronze each.

Indian shooters had a challenging day overall with none of them making the men’s 3P final and also finding themselves with lots to do after the first round of qualifying in the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol (RFP) event.

In the women’s 3P as well, the Indians looked out of it after the first two Kneeling and Prone positions, but all three, Shriyanka, Ashi Chouksey and previous world cup gold winner Sift Kaur Samra picked up the pace admirably in the final Standing position to make a dash for the qualifying mark.

Shriyanka succeeded in taking seventh with a solid 588, while Ashi finished stronger on accuracy than Sift, taking ninth to the latter’s 11th with both stopping at 587 and thereby missing out narrowly.

In the final, the Indian began well with a 10.5 as her first effort, but as the grind to the finish began in right earnest, she petered out. Her best chance was when she had moved up to sixth with two more shots of the second Prone position remaining but returns of 9.8 and 9.3 effectively doused her challenge.

She closed with a 9.9 as her final shot to wrap with 400.7, bowing out alongside seventh placed Brazilian Geovana Meyer.

In the men’s 3P, Aishwary Tomar, Niraj Kumar and Chain Singh finished 17th, 18th and 19th respectively. The first two named shot identical scores of 587 to miss the last qualifying mark by a couple of points, while Chain shot 586.

There was also 25m action on the day with Anish, Vijayveer Sidhu and Gurpreet Singh all finishing day one of qualifying in the men’s RFP, outside the top six qualifying mark. They will need to be at their best in the second rapid-fire round tomorrow to get a shot at a medal.

All finals can be streamed LIVE on the official ISSF YouTube channel.