Sofiya Shulzhenko sets world record at Asian Championship

Kazakhstan’s Sofiya Shulzhenko set a world record in the 50m rifle 3 positions event at the Asian Championship in Delhi. India added two gold medals, with Prachi Gaikwad starring in juniors, as the hosts maintained their lead in the medal tally

Hyderabad: Kazakhstan shooter Sofiya Shulzhenko set a new world record in the 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) women’s event en route to winning gold at the Asian Championship Rifle/Pistol, even as India picked up two more gold medals on day seven of competitions at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in Delhi on Tuesday.

Sofiya ended the 35-shot final with a score of 358.2, four points clear of silver medalist Aakriti Dahiya of India. Aakriti’s senior teammate Anjum Moudgil, a world championship medalist, clinched bronze with a score of 340.4. Sofiya’s score also gave her three more records — world junior, Asian and Asian junior.

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Later in the junior women’s 3P final, Prachi Gaikwad emerged triumphant with a score of 353.3. Fourteen-year-old Kazakh shooter Tomiris Amanova won silver with 351.4 while Anushka Thokur bagged another bronze for the hosts with an effort that ended after the 34th shot at 341.1.

Prachi, Anushka and Hazel also won the team gold in the event with a tally of 1748, seven clear of team Kazakhstan. In the senior women’s 3P, the Kazakhs turned the tables on the Indians by four points to win gold with a combined score of 1760.

Paris Olympian and bronze medalist in the Buenos Aires World Cup last year, Arina Malinovskaya topped the women’s 3P qualification field with a score of 588 after 20 shots each in the kneeling, prone and standing positions. Anjum shot 587 to take second spot while Ashi Chouksey was fourth with 586. Aakriti took the sixth qualifying spot with a total of 583 while winner Shulzhenko shot 587 to take third spot behind Anjum.

In the final, the three Indians were on top after the first kneeling position with Aakriti in the lead, but Shulzhenko had a strong display in the second prone position to rise to second. Thereafter, she was the only shooter to log above 50 points in both five-shot series of the standing position, taking a decisive lead which kept stretching till the end as her challengers faded out.

Also on the day, Adarsh Singh of India took pole position after the first precision round in the 25m rapid-fire pistol men’s competition with a score of 291/300. Favourite Anish Bhanwala shot 287 to remain in contention for a finals berth while Neeraj Kumar’s 277 meant he would have to work hard on Wednesday (Feb 11) to make the finals cut, which will follow the second rapid-fire round.

India’s medal tally currently stands at 39 gold, 15 silver and 12 bronze medals, and they comfortably head the standings.