Gauswami wins silver in shooting World Cup

Lajja Gauswami on Tuesday clinched the silver medal in women's 50-metre Rifle 3 Position event, finally bringing to an end India's lean run at the ISSF World Cup in Granada, Spain.

The 24-year-old Gauswami, a bronze medallist at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, shot 584 in the qualification round and 454 in the finals to bag the silver ahead of Norway's Malin Westerheim, who shot 443.9 in the finals.

Petra Zublasing of Italy won the gold after scoring 459.1 in the medal round.

Gauswami totalled 152.4 over three series in kneeling, scored 154.8 in prone and 146.8 while standing to win the country's first medal in the tournament, which started on July 3.

Gauswami had teamed up with Tejaswani Sawant to win silver in pairs 50-m rifle 3 position at the Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010.

The ace shooter, who hails from Anand district in Gujarat, had also won gold in the women's 50m rifle 3 position, ahead of Maharashtra's Sawant and veteran Anjali Bhagwat at the IX Sardar Sajjan Singh Sethi Memorial Masters shooting competition last year.

It may also be noted that Gauswami, despite exhibiting prolific form in 2011, could not make it to the 11-member team for last year's London Olympics after failing to lift her game during the trials.

Meanwhile, London Olympics silver medallist Vijay Kumar could not qualify for the finals of men's 25-m rapid fire pistol event after finishing 13th in the qualification round. Pemba Tamang was placed a lowly 36th while Mahendra Singh was placed 42nd.