Shooting World Cup: Rhythm breaks long-standing world record, misses medal in Baku

Rhythm Sangwan, broke a 29-year-old world record but missed a second medal at the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol

New Delhi: Rhythm Sangwan, broke a 29-year-old world record but missed a second medal at the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol in Baku, Azerbaijan, finishing eighth in the women’s 25m Pistol event.

Rhythm, who won a first-ever individual senior World Cup stage medal with a bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol on Wednesday, shot a stunning 595 to top the 25m pistol qualification early in the day, smashing the world record first created by Diana Iorgova of Bulgaria back in 1994 in Milan.

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It had been equalled twice thereafter, most recently by German Doreen Vennekamp at the Bhopal world cup in March this year. Doreen won bronze here in Baku while China’s Feng Sixuan picked up a second consecutive World Cup gold in the event with 38 hits in the final to Iranian silver medallist Haniyeh Rostamiyan’s 33. Rhythm was first to be eliminated in the eight-woman final with 10 hits in the first four five-shot series.

Rhythm in fact broke two world records on the day as she also claimed the junior women’s 25m pistol qualification record. That went back even further, 34 years to be precise, when Russian Nino Salukvadze shot 593 at the European Championship in Zagreb. India’s Manu Bhaker had equalled that effort in 2018 at the Asian Games in Jakarta.

India registered a no-medal day for the first time in the tournament as even though Rhythm topped qualification with her 595, teammates Esha Singh and Manu Bhaker shot 582 and 578 respectively to finish in 13th and 27th positions. Abhidnya Ashok Patil, playing for ranking points, registered a score of 576.

Also, in the second final of the day, all three Indian contenders in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) fell short of the top eight mark. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar shot 586 for a 10th place finish while Akhil Sheoran was 13th with 585 and Swapnil Kusale further back in 22nd with a score of 583. Pankaj Mukheja shooting for ranking points only shot 581.

The day also saw the first precision qualification round for the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol (RFP) where India’s Vijayveer Sidhu shot a solid 293 to be among the top scores currently. Sunday, the final day of competitions, will see the second rapid-fire round of qualifications before the RFP final. The final of the Baku World Cup on Sunday will be the women’s 3P.