Rifle shooter Nischal bags silver as India finish with two medals

RIO DE JANEIRO: Teenage Indian rifle shooter Nischal bagged silver in the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions (3P) at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol stage here to give India a second medal on the final day of the tournament.

Her achievement becomes even more credible given this was her very first senior World Cup final. Nischal finished behind Norwegian Rifle ace Jeanette Hegg Duestad with a score of 458.0 in the final late on Monday night.

Duestad is the reigning Air Rifle European Champion and 300m 3P World Champion and has 12 ISSF World Cup medals to her name including five gold. She was also fourth in the Tokyo Olympics in Air Rife.

It all began with the elimination rounds in the morning where a total of 18 shooters were eliminated over two rounds totalling 73 competitors. She shot a solid 587 in relay one to safely make it to qualification. So did her two countrywomen, previous qualification national record holder Anjum Moudgil and Ayushi Podder, both of whom shot in relay two.

Then in qualification, Nischal shot a sublime 592 including a perfect 200 in the prone position, to erase Anjum’s score of 591, shot in the President’s Cup in Cairo last year. Anjum herself shot a solid 586, but finished 10th to miss the final by a point. Ayushi was further back in 35th with 580.

The final had a stellar field. Besides Duestad, there was qualification topper (594) and world champion Wanru Miao of China, 2018 Youth Olympic champion Stephanie Grundsoee of Denmark, Italian Olympian Sofia Ceccarello and senior Polish shooter Aneta Stankiewicz, among others.

Not one to be fazed, Nischal went head-to-head with the Duestad from get-go of the 45-shot final. She was 0.1 behind the Norwegian after the first 15 kneeling shots and the same after the consequent 15 shots in the prone position. IANS

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