World Cup: Jitu stars in India’s shot at glory

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 2

Exploiting the home advantage, the Indian shooters struck a rich medal haul at the ISSF Combined World Cup, the competitive stage of which ended today.

Jitu Rai’s gold in the 50m pistol event capped India’s campaign at the Karni Singh range. India won four other medals — two silver and two bronze — as the country finished fifth in the medals tally behind China, Italy, Australia and Japan. It was one of the best performances by the Indian shooters in the World Cup history.

Despite the presence of several Olympics, World and European champions, 15 Indian shooters managed to reach the final round in their events. India had fielded a 41-member contingent. In the 15 competition disciplines, India had at least one representation in the final, except the women’s 25m pistol and women’s skeet.

Jitu’s gold in 50m pistol and bronze in 10m pistol were the high points for India. In both the finals, Jitu made a remarkable comeback from the brink of elimination. Jitu now has nine medals from the World Cups, in just three years.

Punjab’s Amanpreet Singh also impressed in the 50m pistol, winning silver, his first World Cup medal. Making his first international appearance in three years, Amanpreet topped the qualification stage and seemed primed to take gold before he suffered a meltdown.

Sonepat’s Ankur Mittal winning silver in double trap was an exceptional achievement, too, for it was his first World Cup final. The field included Marco Innocenti, silver medallist at the Rio Olympics, and other stars such as Antonini Barilla, Alessandro Chianese and Steven Scott. But Mittal put his celebrated opponents in the shade.

Maharashtra’s Pooja Ghatkar had opened India’s medal campaign with a bronze in the women’s 10m air rifle. Making her third World Cup appearance, the 28-year-old put the disappointment of finishing fourth in the Baku and Bangkok World Cups behind her.

Finalists

The achievement of Sheeraz Sheikh in men’s skeet was also remarkable — he wasn’t even in the reckoning to be selected in the team, ranked third in India behind Mairaj Ahmad and Amrinder Singh Cheema. But his fifth-place finish in last year’s Asian Championships in Abu Dhabi convinced skeet coach Ennio Falco to include him in the World Cup team ahead of Cheema. And the 26-year-old from Meerut proved his coach’s decision right by qualifying for the six-man final. Though a medal eluded him, he earned the distinction of competing with the likes of Olympics champion Gabriele Rossetti and world champion Riccardo Filippelli.

Similarly, India had relatively new faces — Deepak Kumar and Ravi Kumar — as the two finalists in the men’s 10m rifle.

Women disappoint

Barring Ghatkar, the women shooters didn’t rise to the occasion. The biggest setback came in 10m air pistol, where Heena Sidhu could not qualify for the final. Harven Srao made it to the final but finished seventh. In women’s skeet, none of the three Indian shooters reached the final. In the 25m pistol, the experienced Rahi Sarnobat finished a poor 23rd.

Chain Singh, who was part of India’s Rio Olympics contingent and has an experience of competing in 29 World Cups, also disappointed with his seventh-place finish in the 50m men’s Rifle Prone.