Paris Olympic quota winner Akhil Sheoran, won his second career individual International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup stage medal, clinching the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) bronze at the Egypt International Olympic City Shooting range in Cairo, Egypt, late on Wednesday.
Akhil shot 451.8 in the eight-man 45-shot final, after qualifying second with a score of 589. The seasoned Jiri Privratsky of the Czech Republic won gold with 462.9, while France’s double junior world champion Romain Aufrere won silver finishing with 460.5.
The effort meant that India concluded their engagements at the season opening World Cup stage with medals of every colour. Their final tally read two gold, three silver and one bronze medal as they yet again topped another ISSF World Cup stage.
Akhil’s first shot of 10.3 in the Kneeling position was second best in the eight-man field. He maintained his second position after 10 as Italian Lorenzo Bacci took over the lead with reigning air rifle world champion Victor Lindgren rising up to third, just 0.1 behind the Indian. Firing a perfect 10.9 for in his 15th and final Kneeling position shot gave Akhil the lead for the first time in the match.
Akhil was 0.1 ahead of Aufrere at that stage and a second 10.9 for his 10th shot in the second Prone position extended that lead to 0.4, as the duo began putting a little gap between them and the field.
Sheoran’s third 10.9 was the very next, the 26th and Aufrere also began giving way. By the end of the 15 Prone shots, Akhil’s tally of 312.5 was a healthy 1.9 ahead of Aufrere. His final Prone series was a scorching 53.5.
Standing is where things change dramatically in 3P and it did on the day as well as for the first time in the match, Akhil fired shots in the nine-ring. When Kazakh Konstantin Malinovskiy and Lindgren were first to be eliminated after 40-shots, Aufrere had overtaken Akhil by 0.3.
Privratsky was also surging and Akhil managed to clinch bronze as a final shot of 7.9 by Aufrere gave Privratsky gold.
Other Indian scores of the day
Women’s 3P:
Priya Brijpal Singh 580 (37th), Shriyanka Sadangi 584 (18th)
Men’s 3P:
Deepak Kumar 585 (16th ), Niraj Kumar 582 (24th)
Skeet Mixed Team:
Munek Battula & Ganemat Sekhon were eighth with a combined tally of 139 out of 150 while Anant Jeet Singh Naruka and Raiza Dhillon were 11th with 138.
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