Shooting World Cup: Manini finishes sixth in 3P as India finish second in Baku

Manini Kaushik, reached her first career final in a senior World Cup stage, finishing sixth in the women's 50m rifle 3-positions event

New Delhi: Manini Kaushik, reached her first career final in a senior World Cup stage, finishing sixth in the women’s 50m rifle 3-positions (3P) event as India ended their engagements at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Manini shot 415.6 in the final, which was won by Briton Seonaid McIntosh who finished with 467.0.

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China’s double Olympic medallist Li Yuehong won the other final of the concluding day, the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol (RFP), helping his country top the medal tally with four gold, one silver and two bronze medals, even as India finished second with one gold, two silver and one bronze in their kitty, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) informed in a release on Sunday.

Manini, for her first final at this level, shot well and was placed fifth after the first 15 shots in the kneeling and prone positions. Briton Seonaid Mcintosh had established a big lead by then at the top of the field, about 1.6 clear of second-placed Norwegian Jeannette Hegg Duestad.

She did well to hold her position after the first 10 shots in the final standing position as well when the eighth and seventh shooters get eliminated. However, a 9.2 for her 41st shot meant that Manini had to be satisfied with a sixth-place finish.

Among the other Indians in the women’s 3P, Anjum Moudgil was 18th with a qualification round score of 573, while Sift Kaur Samra shot 571 for a 21st-place finish. Shriyanka Sadangi and Nishchal, playing for ranking points only. shot scores of 572 and 569 respectively.

Indian shooters also narrowly missed the finals qualifying mark in the men’s RFP, when Vijayveer Sidhu shot 580 for a ninth-place finish and Anish with 579 finished in 13th position. The top six in the event qualify for the finals.

Ankur Goel, the third Indian contender in the field, shot 566 and finished in the 36th spot. Adarsh Singh shooting for ranking points shot 578 while Arpit Goel, also shooting for ranking points, registered 564.