New Delhi: India’s Prithviraj Tondaiman, won his first individual World Cup stage medal after he finished third in the men’s trap competition at the ongoing International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Shotgun in Doha, Qatar.
Prithviraj finished with 20 hits from the first 25 targets in the medal match to settle for bronze at the Lusail Shooting Range.
The 40-year-old Turkish athlete Tuzun Oguzhan won gold, after coming through a 14-way shoot-off for the final qualifying spot. He shot 33 targets in the 35-shot medal match as Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Matthew John Coward-Holley won silver with 30 hits to his name.
Prithviraj was fourth overnight after 75 targets on Day One of qualification and shot two rounds of 24 each early on Saturday to post a score of 122.
That ensured a top-eight finish, but he still had to go through a shoot-off to determine qualifying ranks. He finished third in the five-way shoot-off to claim the sixth qualifying spot and get into the first-ranking match. IN all, 14-shooters finished on 121 and Tuzun won that shoot-off to claim the eighth and final qualifying spot.
In his 25-shot ranking match, Prithviraj missed just three targets to top the field with 22 hits. Matthew hit 21 and accompanied Prithviraj to the medal match, where Tuzun and Nased Meqlad of Kuwait joined them. Both Prithviraj and Naser then missed two of the first 15 medal match targets, but Naser bowed out on account of the lower bib number, ensuring the Indian’s first individual ISSF World Cup stage medal.
Former Commonwealth Games champion Shreyasi Singh also made the ranking round in the women”s trap competition but bowed out with 21 hits out of 25. Tokyo Olympics Mixed Team Trap gold medallist Fatima Galvez of Spain topped the match with 24 hits, while eventual gold medallist Penny Smith of Australia also made it to the medal match with 23 hits.
Shreyasi had earlier equalled the national record score of 118 to finish sixth in qualifying. She shot rounds of 24 and 22 on the day and then, although qualification was assured, also won a three-way shoot-off with seven straight hits, to cement the sixth spot.
Also in the women”s trap, Rajeshwari Kumari recovered from a horrendous first one, finishing with rounds of 22 and 23 to claim the 46th spot with a score of 107. The third Indian in contention, Preeti Rajak, shot 105 to end further down at 50th position. Kirti Gupta, who played for ranking points only shot 110.
Bhowneesh Mendiratta was the second-best Indian in men’s trap with a score of 120, giving him a 27th-place finish while Zoravar Singh Sandhu shot 119 to claim the 38th spot. Kynan Chenai shot 118 playing for ranking points only.
(IANS)
