World No 1 Divyansh Singh Panwar opened India’s medals tally with a bronze in the men’s 10m air rifle in the first final of the ISSF World Cup in Delhi on Saturday.
However, world No 4 Anjum Moudgil had to settle for a fifth-place finish after shooting 187.8 in the women’s 10m air rifle final.
The 18-year-old Panwar shot 228.1 to finish third at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range. American Lucas Kozeniesky claimed the gold medal with 249.8, while Istvan Peni of Hungary bagged silver with 249.7.
The other Indian participant in the final, Arjun Babuta, finished in fifth place after three scores below 10 in the eight-man final.
A 10.6 and 10.3 in the seventh series saw Panwar survive elimination in the fourth place as Sergey Richter of Israel fell behind. The Tokyo Olympic quota holder shot 10.6 to finish with the bronze medal.
The medal will be a big boost for the Jaipur-based shooter as he prepares for the Tokyo Games. He was placed sixth in the 60-shot qualification with a total of 629.1 while Babuta was third with 631.8.
In the final, Babuta had one 9.9 in the first series followed by another 9.9 and 9.7 in the second. Under pressure, the 22-year-old Babuta began the fourth series with one more 9.9 before being eliminated at fifth place with 185.5.
In the second final, a 9.9 and a 9.7 in the first series hampered Moudgil’s prospects as Mary Carolynn Tucker (251.5) and Alison Marie Weisz (250.4) won the gold and silver medals, respectively, in a 1-2 for the USA.
Eszter Denes of Hungary bagged the bronze medal with 230.2 after being eliminated in a shoot-off.
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