Shooting high! India seize another gold medal in International Shooting World Cup

New Delhi, March 5: Another Gold in the court for India, Manu Bhaker has proved that she has a very strong head on her young shoulders as she overcame a 1.4 point deficit on the last shot to win the Women’s 10m Air Pistol Gold in the year’s first International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup in Mexico

 

The 16 year old Bhaker, who recently earned a quota place for the Beunos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games planned for October, needed some luck and a strong finish to overcome home favourite Alejandra Zavala, a two-time World Cup Finals winner.

The shooter from Haryana responded with a 10.6 while Zavala hit a lowly 8.8 to hand the gold medal to the Indian with a final score of 237.5. Zavala ended with 237.1 while Celine Goberville of France won the Bronze with a score of 217.0. India’s Yashaswini Singh Deswal missed out on a medal, finishing fourth with 196.1.

Reacting after winning the medal, Manu Bhaker said, “I am extremely happy at winning Gold, especially as this is my first World Cup. I look forward to perform even better in upcoming competitions.”

At the end of competition day two, India’s medal tally now stands at five with two Gold medals and three bronze, the latest coming in the 10m Air Rifle event. Shahzar Rizvi and Jitu Rai had won gold and bronze in the Men’s 10M Air Pistol and Mehuli Ghosh won bronze in the Women’s 10M Air Rifle on the first day of competitions on Saturday.