Ningbo: Samrat Rana came agonisingly close to a finals appearance in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol (APM) on the second day of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol at the Ningbo Olympic Sports Center, missing out on qualification only on the count of inner 10s.
Meanwhile, Divya T.S. produced a composed effort in the Women’s 25m Pistol (SPW) Precision Stage, staying well within the top eight and in contention for a finals berth with the Rapid-Fire stage to follow tomorrow (September 11, 2025).
In the APM qualification, Rana shot a total of 582-20x with series scores of 96, 98, 92, 95, 99, and 97 to finish 10th overall. He missed out on the finals as his tally of inner 10s being five short of Iran’s Vahid Golkhandan, who claimed the eighth finals spot with 582-25x.
Among the other Indians in the fray, Amit Sharma finished 28th with 576-18x (97, 96, 97, 93, 98, 95) while Nishant Rawat finished 42nd with 568-11x (97, 97, 95, 91, 92, 96).
In the APM final, the gold was claimed by reigning Asian Champion Kai Hu of China, who maintained his sensational run of form in 2025. He shot 242.3 to win his fifth senior gold medal of the year, having already claimed all previous World Cup golds as well as the Asian Championship gold. His compatriot Changjie You secured the silver with 241.5, while Switzerland’s Jason Solari took bronze with 220.4.
In the SPW (Precision Stage) qualification, Divya T.S. impressed with a score of 291-14x (97, 94, 100) to stand seventh in the standings at the halfway mark. She is well placed to push for a finals berth with the Rapid-Fire Stage scheduled for tomorrow.
Ahead of her is Yejin Oh of Korea with 291-15x while leading the standings is China’s Qianxun Yao with 298-11x. Among the other Indians, Abhidnya Ashok Patil shot 288-7x (96, 96, 96) to place herself at 19th, while Olympian Rahi Sarnobat is placed 26th with 286-8x (95, 93, 98).
Divya and other athletes will return to action in the Rapid-Fire Stage tomorrow morning at 7 AM IST, with the top eight overall qualifiers advancing to the final scheduled at 9:15 AM IST.
The action on Day 3 will also feature India’s Umamahesh Maddenini, Divyansh Singh Panwar, and Niraj Kumar in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle (ARM).
The competition field in ARM promises to be world-class with a star-studded line-up that includes reigning Olympic Champion Sheng Lihao of China, Sweden’s Paris Olympic silver medallist Victor Lindgren, World No.2 Istvan Peni of Hungary, World No.3 Ilia Marsov (Neutral), and Norway’s World No.4 Jon-Hermann Hegg, who won the mixed team gold yesterday. Also in contention are Asian Championship silver and bronze medallist Lu Dingke of China and Korea’s Hajun Park.
(IANS)
