Indians had a good day at the year’s third International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle and Pistol tournament in Munich, Germany today. Apurvi Chandela grabbed a gold, winning the women’s 10m Air Rifle competition after a closely-fought contest. She shot a score of 251 in the final to outshine Wang Luyao of China, who shot 250.8. This was Apurvi’s second ISSF World Cup gold of the year followed by a world record score in New Delhi in February.This was also her career’s fourth ISSF medal. Another Indian in the fray, Elavenil Valarivan also made it to the finals. But she missed out on a bronze medal to Xu Hong of China by just 0.1 points and finished fourth. Indian shooter also performed well at other events. After the first round of qualifying in the women’s 25m Pistol, Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat stood in second position with a score of 294. With a good rapid fire round tomorrow, she can fancy her chances of winning a medal as well as an Olympic quota. Manu Bhaker shot 289 and was a bit behind in 24th spot, while Chinki Yadav shot 276 to be in 95th place. India already has five quota places in Rifle and Pistol competitions.As a result India forfeited their right to quotas in the women’s air rifle and men’s 10m air pistol competitions, given they have already secured the maximum possible two quotas in these events. India’s other quota is in the men’s 10m air rifle. Hence the shooters would be eligible for only one quota. Tomorrow will witness three finals with six Tokyo quota places up for grabs.
