New Delhi: Manavjit Sandhu rallied to the third place on Day Two of qualification in the men’s trap event at the ISSF World Cup at the Rio de Janerio’s Olympic Shooting Centre.
Beginning the day in the eighth position, former world champion Manavjit shot a 24 to match the second-placed Briton Edward Ling’s overall score of 72 but two behind World No.2 Alberto Fernandez of Spain, who is on top with 74.
Meanwhile, Jitu Rai, World No.1 in the 50m pistol, narrowly missed out on the finals of the men’s 10m air pistol category. Jitu shot 580 in qualification to finish ninth, missing out on a top eight finals berth on account of lesser inner 10s.
At least two other shooters including Juraj Tuzinsky of Slovakia, who went on to win the gold in the event, had shot the same score as Jitu’s. He will also take heart from the fact that he defeated his Korean rival Jin Jongoh, a triple Olympic gold medallist, to the 12th place.
India’s best finish in the event came from Pooja Ghatkar, who secured the 11th position with 417.2 in qualification, 0.3 points away from the finals mark. Ayonika Paul was 13th with 416.4, while Apurvi Chandela finished 20th with a score of 415.7.
In the men’s 10 metre pistol event, Gurpreet Singh finished 17th shooting 577, while Prakash Nanjappa was 50th on 569. In the women’s Trap, Seema Tomar eneed 26th with 60 in an event where Chinese Taipei’s Yi Chun Lin won the gold.
