ISSF World: India grab 2 more medals in Cairo

India won two more medals on competition day 11 of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship Rifle/Pistol at the Egypt International Olympic City (EIOC) Shooting Range in Cairo.

On Sunday, the Women's 25m Pistol Team won a silver and the Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions (3P) team won a bronze, even as India ended their Paris 2024 Olympics quota quest at two from the championship. Their tally now stands at 12 gold, nine silver, and 13 bronze medals, as per a press release from the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI)

The Women's 25m Pistol team comprising Rhythm Sangwan, Manu Bhaker, and Abhidnya Ashok Patil first qualified for the top eight stages with a sixth-place finish in stage one of qualification where they totalled 873. Ukraine topped the stage with 880. They then came second with a combined effort of 443 in stage two with China topping with 444, setting up a gold medal clash with the Indians. The Chinese, however, were too good for the Indians and did not offer them a whiff of a chance in the decider winning it 16-0.

In Men's 3P, Aishwary Tomar, Swapnil Kusale and Niraj Kumar topped stage one of qualification with a combined score of 1324. In stage two though, they finished fourth with a total of 873 and were drawn against the USA in a bronze medal shoot-out. They edged that 17-15 in their favour. Norway won gold and France silver.

In the Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol, which had four Paris quotas up for grabs, India's Vijayveer Sidhu shot 289 in the rapid-fire round for a total of 583 to finish 11th. Peter Florian of Germany took the eighth and final qualifying spot with a score of 584. Former Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar shot 581 in his comeback championship to finish in the 13th spot. Anish, the third Indian in the field was further back in 28th with a score of 575.

Also in the 3P Mixed Team event, the pair of Anjum Moudgil and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar finished 17th with a score of 873 and Sift Kaur Samra and Swapnil Kusale shot 866 to end in the 31st spot.

In the only event on Monday, the Indian men's 25m rapid-fire pistol team of Vijay Kumar, Anish and Vijayveer Sidhu shot 870 in qualification stage one to finish fourth and qualify for the top eights, where they shot 556 to finish seventh and bow out of the competition.

The Indian shooters will compete in one more event on Tuesday and are currently placed second on the medal tally behind China.

The championships started in Cairo, Egypt on October 12 and will go on till October 25.