India produce best ever result at the ISSF World Cup; win a Gold, Silver and a bronze

ITALY PIPPED China in the last medal event of the competition to top the medals table as competitions for the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Final (WCF) Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun, New Delhi 2017, came to a close at Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range on Sunday. India finished seventh overall, with one Gold, one Silver and one Bronze medal won through Jitu Rai/Heena Sidhu (Gold-Mixed Team 10M Air Pistol), Sangram Dahiya (Silver- Men’s Double Trap) and Amanpreet Singh (Bronze-Men’s 50M Pistol). This was India's best ever result in the annual ISSF shooting centrepiece.

In the ISSF Champion of Champions event, where all medal winners in the Rifle and Pistol events could compete for a purse of 5000 euros each, China’s Rio 2016 10M Air Pistol Women’s champion, Mengxue Zhang and Gengcheng Sui were crowned Champion of Champions in Pistol and Rifle respectively. India’s Jitu Rai had won the Pistol event last time around.

On the concluding day’s final event, the Men’s Trap, Spain’s Alberto Fernandez, six time World Cup Gold medalist and Bronze medalist in last year’s WCF, won Gold with a world record score of 48 out of 50 in the final.

Italy’s reigning world champion Daniele Resca won Silver with an effort of 46 but his Silver was crucial as it helped Italy pip China in the medals table. Daniele’s Silver meant Italy finished with two Gold, three Silvers and one Bronze medal, while China ended with two Gold, two Silver and five Bronze medals.

In the two other medal events of the day, France’s Rio Olympics bronze medalist Alexis Raynaud won Gold in the Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event getting the better of young 18-year old Czech Filip Nepejchal 461.7 to 458.5 in the final. 20-year old Hungarian Istvan Peni won bronze with an effort of 449.1 to round off a good New Delhi trip with a total of one Gold (10M Air Rifle) and one Bronze medal.

In the Men’s 25M Rapid Fire Pistol, Keith Sanderson of the USA won Gold over Silver winning Frenchman Clement Bessaguet. Keith shot 31 out of 40 in the final to Clement’s 29. Korea’s Jong Ho Song shot 24 to claim Bronze.

That brings the ISSF 2017 shooting calendar to an end. The next combined World Cup stage, the first of the 2018 calendar, is scheduled for March in Guadalajara, Mexico. The Indian squad, however, moves onto the Commonwealth Shooting Championships in Brisbane, Australia, scheduled between October 30th-Nov 6, 2017.

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