Wednesday , December 25 2024

Sifat Kaur Samra wins bronze medal as Munich World Cup concludes

New Delhi, June 7 (HS). Women's 3P (50m rifle 3 positions) specialist Sift Kaur Samra won a bronze medal on Friday on the closing day of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol in Munich as India finished the competition with two medals.

Sarabjot Singh won the gold medal in the men's 10m air pistol on Thursday. Sifat won the bronze medal with a score of 452.9. She missed the silver medal by just 0.1 seconds behind the current air rifle women's world champion Han Jiayu of China. World number one Seonaid McIntosh of Great Britain won the gold medal with a score of 466.7.

Danish Olympian Ibsen Rake Maeng was briefly delayed in finishing the kneeling position of the women's 3P final today at the Munich Olympic Shooting Range due to a malfunction in the electronic target system. While Seonaid had already taken a big lead at the end of it, Sift was seventh.

As the Briton moved ahead after the second prone position, almost three ahead of China's Zhang Qiongyu, who was second at that stage, Sift moved up to fifth place with an above-average round.

A brilliant five-shot second series in the final standing position put her in joint bronze medal position with reigning world champion Han Jiayue of China in the women's 10m air rifle.

Sift was now in her element and after the 43rd shot in the 45-shot final, she moved up to second place, but eventually had to settle for the bronze medal by the slimmest of margins.

The men's 3P final saw top quality shooters competing against each other including experienced Serbian and two-time Olympian Milutin Stefanovic, Hungary's top rifle shooter Istvan Peni, world-record holder Yukun Liu of China, in-form Jiri Privirtsky of the Czech Republic and World Championship bronze medallist John-Herman Hague of Norway.

Gold eventually went to another Norwegian, Ole Martin Halvorsen (464.3), who beat Penny by 0.2 in a topsy-turvy final. Hague took bronze with 449.9.

India's Aishwarya Tomar never recovered from a slow start in the final and was the first player to exit the final, finishing eighth with a score of 408.9 after 40-shots.

He was fourth after the kneeling position before moving up to eighth after the prone and then hit 8.9 for his 39th shot but by then he was ninth in the standings and it was too late.