‘RCB made a statement in the knockout game’: Anil Kumble after Qualifier 1 win

The 22-year-old from Maharashtra shot an impressive 635.1 in qualification before losing a tense shoot-off to France's Mueller in the 10m Air Rifle final

New Delhi: Sakshi Sunil Padekar finished seventh in the 10m Air Rifle women’s final on Day Three of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol at the iconic Olympiaschießanlage in Munich, Germany.

The 22-year-old from Maharashtra had qualified for the final in third place after shooting a stellar 635.1, finishing only behind World No. 1 Wang Zifei of China and Paris Olympics champion Ban Hyojin of South Korea.

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Serbia’s 18-year-old Andelija Stevanovic, also making her senior World Cup debut, clinched the gold with a total score of 252.3 in a thrilling final decided by the very last shot.

Japan’s Misaki Nobata secured her first senior World Cup medal, taking silver with a score of 252.0. Wang Zifei won the bronze with 231.1, while Olympic champion Ban finished fourth.

In the final, Sakshi started with a 10.5, but hit a 9.7 and 9.8 in her second and third shots. She responded well with a 10.8 and 10.7 to end the first series in sixth place with a score of 51.5.

In the second series, she shot 10.6, 10.4, 10.6, 10.0, and 10.5 for a series total of 52.1, holding onto her sixth position.

During the first single-shot elimination stage, Sakshi hit two consecutive 10.3s to maintain her position.

She followed that up with two 10.5s on her next attempts, carving out a 0.4-point lead over France’s Oceanne Mueller, who was sitting in seventh.

However, the French shooter fired a massive 10.9 on the 14th shot to force a shoot-off against the Indian, who managed a 10.5.

In the sudden-death shoot-off, Sakshi registered a 10.5, but Mueller hit a 10.7 to relegate the Indian debutant to seventh place with a final score of 145.2.

Mueller survived one more elimination round to finish fifth.

Earlier in the day, India’s Elavenil Valarivan finished 19th with a score of 632.1, while Arya Borse placed 63rd with 627.6. The highly competitive field of 146 shooters saw the top 12 all crossing the 633.0 mark, underlining the elite level of competition.

Vidarsa K. Vinod (630.6) and Tilottama Sen (630.1), competing for ranking points, finished 27th and 32nd, respectively. Meanwhile, Olympian Anish Bhanwala remains India’s brightest prospect after Stage 1 of the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol.

Bhanwala ended Stage 1 with a score of 290-10x in 18th place, keeping his hopes alive for a top-eight spot tomorrow. Fellow senior debutants Suraj Sharma (284-11x) and Udhayveer Sidhu (288-14x) face an uphill task to make tomorrow’s finals.

Three finals—the 10m Air Pistol Women, 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men, and 25m Rapid Fire Pistol—will take place tomorrow on the penultimate day of the Munich World Cup.