Baku World Cup: India opens account with bronze medal in rhythm
India’s Rhythm Sangwan came from behind to win the bronze medal in the women’s 10m pistol event of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol in Baku, Azerbaijan. The rhythm finished third behind two-time Olympic champion gold medalist Anna Korakaki of Greece and silver medalist Olena Kostevich of Ukraine. Both Sarabjot Singh and Isha Singh, however, failed to win medals despite qualifying for the finals of the men’s and women’s 10m air pistol events respectively. With this competition, the ISSF returned to the format of the Tokyo Olympics.
Rhythm shot 581 in the 60-shot qualification while Isha shot 579 to finish third and seventh respectively to make it to the eight-shot 24-shot final. Another Olympic champion to make it to the final, Tokyo Games mixed team winner Jiang Renxin of China topped the qualification with a score of 588. She was seven points ahead of second-placed Kim Bomi of Korea. Ukraine veteran Olena started off brilliantly with a score of 10.6. The Indian shooters got off to a slow start. Isha failed to reach even nine in the first three shots.
After the first 10 shots, Anna was on top while Olena was in second place. Rhythm and Isha were at the fifth and sixth position respectively. After 20 shots, Isha was out in sixth place, while Rhythm was one point behind second-placed Olena and 2.7 points behind top-ranked Anna. Despite giving a tough fight, Rhythm finished one point behind the Ukrainian player. He scored 219.1 points. Anna won the gold with a score of 241.3 while Olena won the silver with 240.6. This is Rhythm’s first individual medal at the senior level in an Olympic event. Another Indian competing in the event, Divya TS, finished 17th in the qualification with a score of 575.
