Manu, Elavenil win gold medals in shooting World Cup Finals

Putian (China), November 21

Manu Bhaker and Elavenil Valarivan shot down gold medals in their respective events to make it a memorable day for Indian shooters in the ISSF World Cup Finals here on Thursday.

Manu fired her way to the gold with a junior world record in the women’s 10m air pistol event, while Elavenil claimed the top honours in the women’s 10m air rifle competition.

The 17-year-old Bhaker shot 244.7 to notch up the top prize in the prestigious season-ending tournament of International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). In the same event Manu’s compatriot, Yashaswini Singh Deswal finished sixth in the final.

Serbia’s Zorana Arunovic won the silver with 241.9, while Quian Wang of China bagged the bronze with 221.8.

Elavenil shot a score of 250.8 to edge past Taiwan’s Lin Ying-Shin (250.7). Romania’s Laura-Georgeta Coman finished third with a score of 229.

Elavenil had qualified second for the finals with a score of 631.1 behind Ying-Shin (632.3).

Mehuli Ghosh also qualified for the same event’s final but ended sixth with a score of 163.8. 

In the men’s 10m air pistol event, Abhishek Verma and Saurabh Chaudhary qualified for the final but couldn’t claim medals.

Verma topped the qualifications with 588 but ended fifth in the final with a score of 179.4, while Chaudhary was seventh in the qualification with 581 before signing off sixth in the last-eight stage with 159.8. —PTI