Sharp shooter Jitu wins silver

Baku (Azerbaijan), June 25 

Jitu Rai pipped three-time Olympics champion Jongoh Jin of Korea to clinch the silver medal in the men’s 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup here today.

Rai shot 199.5 in the final. Brazilian Felipe Almeida Wu won the gold medal with a total of 200.0, while Jongoh, who topped the qualification, totalled 178.8 in the elimination round to be content with the bronze.

Rai qualified sixth after he shot 580. The eventual gold medal winner had qualified for the final in seventh position.

It was Rai’s sixth World Cup medal and second this year after winning one in Bangkok. Rai is seen as one of India’s best medal prospects at the upcoming Rio Olympics.

“I am very happy with the medal and this is sure to give me a confidence boost, coming just before the Olympics,” Rai said.

Rai had ended 10th in the 50m pistol event yesterday.

Heena in finals

Former world No. 1 Heena Sidhu qualified for the final of the women’s 25m pistol event after finishing fifth in the qualification stage with 582. The Rio-bound shooter also indicated that her preparations for the Olympics were on the right track as she reached her first World Cup final in two years in the 25m pistol event. She eventually finished eighth and became India’s fifth finalist of the competition. Omkar Singh shot 575 to finish 28th, while Gurpreet Singh shot 569 to end 42nd in the men’s 10m air pistol event.

In the women’s 10m air pistol event, Anisa Sayyed shot 572 to finish 32nd and Surabhi Pathak ended 34th with a score of 571. In the men’s double trap, Ankur Mittal scored 137 to finish ninth in the qualifying. Sangram Dahiya finished 14th after shooting a score of 135, while Md. Asab shot 134 to end 15th in the same event. — PTI