Silver lining for Anish-Simran duo
Cairo, October 20
Anish Bhanwala and Simranpreet Kaur Brar won silver at the ISSF World Championship after going down 14-16 to the experienced Ukrainian pair of Yulia Korostylova and Maksym Horodynets in the 25m rapid fire pistol mixed team event here today.
The medal took India’s tally to 26, which includes 10 gold, six silver and 10 bronze. India remain second behind China in the table.
Bhanwala and Brar shot solidly throughout the day at the Egypt International Olympic City Shooting Range, topping the qualification stage with a combined 575 after 30 shots each.
The Indians again came out on top with a score of 383 out of a possible 400 in Stage 2. The Ukrainians followed them into the final with a 380.
At this stage, Rhythm Sangwan and Vijayveer Sidhu, the second Indian pair in the top-eight, bowed out in fifth place. It was a nail-biting final as fortunes kept swinging throughout the 15 five-shot series.
The Indian pair tied it at 6-6, 9-9, 11-11 and then finally at 14-14 before going down in the 15th series. In fact, they had also taken the lead at 8-6 but the Ukrainians finished strongly.
Bhanwala was particularly good in the final, registering seven perfect fives in the 15 series.
In the other highlight of the day, all the three Indians made it through their elimination relays in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions competition, which has four Paris 2024 Olympics quota places at stake.
Anjum Moudgil shot a 587 to finish fourth. The shooters in this event shoot 20 shots each in the kneeling, prone and standing positions.
Sift Kaur Samra shot a 585 to be placed seventh. Ashi Chouksey, who shot a 581 in the same relay, finished 18th.
Meanwhile, Esha Singh topped her qualifying round in the 10m air pistol junior women’s event with a score of 578, but finished fifth in the ranking round with a 199.4.
