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Manu Bhaker and Chain Singh reached the finals of their respective events but missed podium finishes at the ISSF World Cup.
Indian shooter Manu Bhaker (PTI)
Paris Olympics medallist Manu Bhaker and seasoned shooter Chain Singh both reached the finals of their respective events but missed out on podium finishes, resulting in a medal-less day for India at the ISSF World Cup on Wednesday.
Double Olympic bronze medallist Bhaker secured sixth place in the 25m pistol event after qualifying for the eight-shooter final in fifth position with a combined ‘precision’ and ‘rapid fire’ score of 588.
Chain Singh advanced to the final of the men’s 50m rifle 3-position event following an impressive qualification round score, but finished seventh in the eight-shooter medal round.
On the opening day of the competition, India earned a bronze medal through Elavenil Valarivan in the women’s 10m air rifle event.
Bhaker scored 290 in precision and an excellent 298 in the rapid fire round, totalling 588 going into the finals. However, the medal round did not go as planned. The winner of the Olympic bronze medals in the women’s and mixed team 10m air pistol events was outperformed by Chinese and Korean shooters.
China’s Sun Yujie won the gold with a score of 38, while Korea’s Oh Yejin and Yang Jiin claimed silver and bronze with scores of 36 and 32, respectively. Bhaker was eliminated in the third round, finishing with 20 points.
Multiple Asian Games medallist Esha Singh finished 11th with a combined score of 585 and did not advance to the eight-shooter final. Another Indian competitor, Simranpreet Kaur Brar, accumulated 577 points to finish 32nd.
India’s Chain Singh, an Asian Games medallist and recent bronze winner in the ISSF World Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina, qualified for the final in sixth place with a score of 592. Other Indian participants, Paris Olympics bronze medallist Swapnil Kusale and Ankush Jadhav, scored 587 and 580 to finish 38th and 67th, respectively.
Chain Singh shot 198 in ‘kneeling’ and 199 in ‘prone’, but a subpar 195 in ‘standing’ resulted in a total of 592, placing him sixth in the final. In the high-quality final, Chain Singh was the second competitor to be eliminated, finishing seventh. Norway’s Jon-Hermann Hegg won the gold with a score of 464.1, while Individual Neutral Athlete Ilia Marsov took silver with 462, and the Czech Republic’s Jiri Privratsky claimed bronze with 452.
On Thursday, Olympians Arjun Babuta and Sandeep Singh will compete in the men’s 10m air pistol event against Paris Games gold medallist Sheng Lihao. Babuta has reached four consecutive finals since the Paris Olympics last year, where he finished fourth, and his rivalry with Sheng will be closely watched.
Sheng started the 2025 season with a gold medal at the Lima World Cup, where Babuta finished just 0.1 point behind, securing silver. Sandeep Singh, who won the 10m air pistol mixed team bronze with Bhaker at the Paris Games, has also rejoined the team.
In the women’s 50m rifle 3-Position, all three Indian competitors are in good form. Sift Kaur Samra won gold at the World Cup in Argentina, while Shriyanka Sadangi reached the final at the World Cup in Lima. The third Indian, Ashi Chouksey, also performed well in Lima but narrowly missed the final cut.
(With inputs from PTI)
Ritayan Basu, Senior Sub-Editor, Sports at News18.com. Has been covering domestic and and international football for nearly a decade. Has played and covered badminton. Ocassionally writes on cricket, having cov…Read More
Ritayan Basu, Senior Sub-Editor, Sports at News18.com. Has been covering domestic and and international football for nearly a decade. Has played and covered badminton. Ocassionally writes on cricket, having cov… Read More
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