Superwomen: Manu, Esha, Rhythm win team gold as pistol shooters make it 5 out of 5
New Delhi, May 17
India’s women pistol shooters made it five gold out of five after the trio of Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan trounced hosts Germany 16-2 in the 25m pistol team final at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl today.
India also picked up a silver medal in the 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) mixed team competition when Pankaj Mukheja and Sift Kaur Samra went down 12-16 to Poland’s Michal Chojnowski and Julia Piotrowska in the gold medal match.
India’s medal tally has now risen to 11 gold, 13 silver and four bronze medals. Second-placed Italy, which has four gold medals, will look to reduce the gap at the top with the shotgun events still to take place.
The Indian women’s pistol team reached the gold medal round, finishing second to the German
trio of Michaela Boesel, Vanessa Seeger and Mia Fuchs in the second qualification stage.
The Indians shot 431 to the Germans’ 437 out of a possible 450. In the final, though, India did not give the hosts a whiff of a chance and finished the match quite clinically in the end.
Mukheja and Samra were fourth in the first qualification round and then second in the next, to make it to the gold medal round in the 3P mixed team event. They did put up a fight, but the Polish pair finished stronger.
Parinaaz Dhaliwal made it through to the semifinals of the women’s skeet, finishing fourth with a score of 109 in qualification.
