Aishwary adds another gold in ISSF Shooting World Cup

Changwon: India’s Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar clinched the gold medal in the 50m rifle 3 positions event at the ISSF Shooting World Cup here on Saturday.

The 21-year-old Indian stamped his class and got the better of 2018 Youth Olympics champion Zalan Peklar of Hungary 16-12 to claim the top prize. Reigning junior world champion Tomar had earlier topped the qualification round with a score of 593. This was Tomar’s second Shooting World Cup gold, having won his first in New Delhi last year.

The Madhya Pradesh shooter’s gold was India”s fourth in the ongoing competition. India consolidated its position as the leader in the medal tally with a total of nine medals (four gold, four silver and one bronze).

Though Peklar gave a tough challenge in the final, Tomar kept his cool and brought out the big shots from his repertoire to keep himself ahead in the final moments. The seasoned Istvan, also from Hungary, bagged the bronze in the event.

In the ranking round, Tomar had shot perfect scores in the first two kneeling and prone positions but had lost all of his seven points in the final standing position. Another Indian in the fray, Chain Singh finished seventh in the final event.

Earlier in the day, India missed out on a medal as 2019 World Cup champion Manu Bhakar suffered a heart-breaking loss to finish fourth in the women’s 25m Pistol final event. After doing well in ranking matches that saw her perform way better than the eventual gold winner Xiu Hong Teh of Singapore, Manu was eliminated with just nine hits to her name in the final.

2018 Changwon World Cup silver medallist and seasoned Anjum Moudgil has qualified for the finals of the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions to be held on Sunday after finishing sixth in the ranking round.