Shooting World Cup Lima: Anish Bhanwala misses final by two points

New Delhi, April 18 (IANS) Anish Bhanwala missed out by a couple of points on what would have been a fourth individual World Cup final in the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol (RFP), finishing eighth overall at the Las Palmas range in Lima, Peru, on Good Friday.

He shot a total of 575 over two days as local hope Kevin Altamarino Farfan, took the sixth and final qualifying spot with a tally of 577. That was the only event on schedule on the fourth day of competition at the year’s second International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun.

Two other Indian Olympians in the fray, Gurpreet Singh (572 - 11th) and Vijayveer Sidhu (569 -14th), also could not make the title round.

Day five on Saturday has both the men’s and women’s 10m air rifle finals listed and promises to be a blockbuster with six Indians looking to increase their tally of two gold, one silver, and one bronze, won till now.

This is the second successive day that India missed a medal as Paris Olympian Raiza Dhillon made it to her first World Cup final, finishing a credible fifth in the Skeet women’s event.

Earlier on the opening day, the pair of Suruchi and Saurabh Chaudhary struck gold, winning the 10m air pistol mixed team title 17-9 over the Chinese pairing of Yao Qianxun and Hu Kai. It was the teenager Suruchi’s third ISSF World Cup gold and Saurabh’s ninth, including his fifth mixed team gold to go with a mixed team World Cup silver.

The pair made the gold medal match at the Las Palmas range with a combined 580 in qualification, with Suruchi outscoring Saurabh by a couple of points. The Chinese pair topped with 585.

In the decider as well, the Chinese pair got a head-start, shooting off to a 2-6 and 4-8 advantage, before a timeout called by coach Samaresh Jung brought a change in the momentum of the match.

--IANS

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