Reigning world champion Rudrankksh Patil won bronze in the men’s 10m air rifle, his second of the tournament, even as China extended their winning streak at the ISSF World Cup by winning both gold medals on offer for the second day in a row in bhopal.
Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Sheng Lihao of China won gold in the men’s 10m air rifle, while compatriot Huang Yuting, a double gold medalist at the World Championships in Cairo last year, won the women’s event.
China maintained their position at the top of the medal tally at the end of the third day of the event with five golds, one silver and two bronzes. India remained in second place with three bronze medals to go with one gold and one silver each.
Playing back-to-back matches can never be easy, but Rudrankksh delivered once again, taking bronze in what at one point seemed like a losing cause.
He shot a solid 631.0 in qualifying to finish fourth after leading in the opening stages. In the qualifying round of the top eight of 25 shots, he fell well short of the medal standings until the third series of five shots, before a fantastic fourth series, where he shot the highest scoring 53.5, put him back in the contest.
Meanwhile, the three Chinese qualifiers, Sheng (who led throughout the qualifying round), silver medalist Du Linshu and Yu Haonan, were on their way to a Chinese 1-2-3 to the 20th shot.
Rudrankksh entered the fifth heat 0.8 behind Yu. He then shot a strong 52.6 in the heat when Yu faltered, posting 51.5 to finish fourth, as the Indian confirmed his second medal in two days and his fourth ISSF World Cup podium finish overall.
He finished with a score of 262.3 as Sheng and Du advanced to the gold medal match with scores of 264.2 and 263.3 respectively.
The all-China gold medal contest was also close with Sheng prevailing 17-13 in the end.
twig finishes fourth
India had only one top eight finisher in the women’s 10m air rifle as Ramita shot 632.3 to finish second in the qualifying round. The top eight had two Chinese shooters, two Americans and one shooter from Romania, Israel and Kazakhstan, plus hosts India.
China’s Huang Yuting was in ominous form, topping the qualifications with a score of 632.8, while Tokyo Olympics mixed team air rifle silver medalist Mary Tucker of the U.S.A. he also achieved seventh place.
In the top eight, Huang was a cut above the rest, finishing on top again with a score of 265.7 while Mary shot 261.2 for a shot at gold.
Kazakhstan’s Alexandra Le edged out India’s Ramita for bronze, shooting 261.2 to India’s 260.5. Huang then kept up her form on the day to defeat Mary 16-4 for China’s fifth gold in the competition.
