Coming of age: Ganemat Sekhon, Darshna Rathore shoot down silver & bronze

Almaty, May 23

Ganemat Sekhon won silver while Darshna Rathore claimed bronze as India bagged two senior individual medals for the first time in the women’s skeet event at an ISSF World Cup here today.

Local favourite Assem Orynbay won gold through a shoot-off after she and Ganemat ended the 60-shot final with 50 hits each. Ganemat missed one out of the first two shoot-off targets after Orynbay had shot down two.

It was Ganemat’s second individual World Cup medal and a first-ever for Darshna, who appeared in her maiden senior final.

Earlier in the day, Darshna qualified for the six-woman final in the second spot, equalling the national record with a score of 120, while Ganemat was fourth with a 117. Orynbay topped the qualification with a 121.

The final stage included world No. 10 Konstantina Nikolaou of Cyprus among the qualifiers. The Cypriot, however, was the only shooter to miss three of her first four targets in the final, while the other five missed one each. At the end of the first ten targets, Orynbay was the most accurate with eight hits as four others, including Darshna and Ganemat, followed with a 7.

Nikolaou was the first to be eliminated after 20 targets as Ganemat and Czech Republic’s Barbora Sumova continued to chase Orynbay, with Darshna trying to catch up with them.

After 30 hits, the field was down to four with Ganemat leading with a 25, followed by Orynbay with a 24 and Darshna and Barbora tied at 22.

It was heartening to see the two Indians, in particular Ganemat, getting into the groove as the final progressed. The Czech was the next to fall at the 40-target mark with a 29 to her name, confirming a historic double for the Indians.

In the men’s skeet, none of the three Indians in the field made the final. Mairaj Khan was the best finisher with a 119 for a 16th-place finish, while Gurjoat Khangura also shot a 119 to finish 18th. Anantjeet Singh Naruka was further back with a 118.