Published 14:35 IST, November 21st 2019
Manu Bhaker leads the way with yet another Gold at Shooting World Cup finals in China
Three Indians bagged Gold medals at the Shooting World Cup in China, instilling more belief and confidence in the run up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games.
Manu Bhaker, India's ace shooter, added more feathers to her cap on Thursday morning when she won the Gold medal and made a new record score at the Shooting World Cup final in Putian. She won the Gold medal in the 10m Air Pistol after a score of 244.7.
India's sharpshooters
The 17-year-old Bhaker fired her way to the gold with a junior world record in the women's 10m air pistol event, while the 20-year-old Elavenil claimed the top honours in the women's 10m air rifle competition.
Bhaker shot 244.7 to notch up the top prize in the prestigious season-ending tournament of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). In the same event, Yashaswini Singh Deswal finished sixth in the final. Serbia's Zorana Arunovic won the silver with 241.9, while Quian Wang of China bagged the bronze with 221.8.
Bhaker's medal was lauded by Sports Minister, Kiren Rijiju as well as Home Minister Amit Shah. Rijiju tweeted his greetings and so did Shah, who said, "Congratulations to Manu Bhaker for shattering the junior world record and clinching India's first gold medal in 10m Air Pistol event at 2019 ISSF World Cup. Your dedication and consistency towards the game is truly inspiring. Best wishes for your bright future. Way to go!"
It was a fantastic day for Indian shooters, especially women shooters since Elavenil Valarivan also won a Gold medal in the 10m Women's Air Rifle with a score of 250.8, just edging Ying-Shin Lin of Taipei, who had a score of 250.7.
India's third Gold medal came courtesy of Divyansh Singh Panwar, who won the 10m Air Rifle Men's event. He also won by the skin of the teeth, with a score of 250.1. Hungary's Istvan Peni, who had a score of 250.0 won the silver medal.
India's shooters have been performing extremely well and have sealed at least 15 spots in the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, three more than the previous edition of the Games. The 15 shooters are - Anjum Moudgil, Apurvi Chandela, Saurabh Chaudhary, Rahi Sarnobat, Abhishek Verma, Divyansh Singh Panwar, Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini Deswal, Sanjeev Rajput, Deepak Kumar, Chinki Yadav, Tejaswini Sawant, Aishwarya Singh Tomar, Angad Bajwa, and Mairaj Ahmad Khan.
Updated 18:28 IST, November 21st 2019