CHENNAI: The medal standings reflect that shooters from China and India have been the dominant force in the ongoing ISSF World Championships in Cairo, Egypt. The two countries are occupying the top-two positions. There had been at least one shooter from either China or India on the podium in the Olympic discipline events until Tuesday.
Yao Qianxun (10m air pistol women), Liu Yukun (50m rifle 3 positions men) and India's Samrat Rana (10m air pistol men) claimed the world crown to be among the standouts. Chinese shooters had captured both the mixed team event titles while India had a silver through the combination of Esha Singh and Samrat in the 10m air pistol mixed category.
However, Wednesday was a different story as shooters from both India and China missed out on a podium finish in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions. In fact, only one shooter from either of these two countries managed to reach the eight-woman final.
The likes of Ashi Chouksey and Anjum Moudgil and Sift Kaur Samra could only finish 15th, 17th and 48th respectively. From China, teenager Wang Zifei, who was aiming for her second individual medal, did well to qualify as second-best shooter but she could only finish as sixth-best in the final. Even 2022 edition champ Miao Wanru had fallen short during the qualification stage.
Instead it was Norway's Jeanette Hegg Duestad, who captured her first world title in the discipline. Jeanette used all her experience to take charge just before the elimination stage and went on to clinch the gold with a tally of 465.8, finishing just ahead of teenager Emely Jaeggi of Switzerland. Seonaid Mcintosh of Great Britain, who was making a comeback after a hiatus, also thrived during the elimination stage with some high 10s to walk away with a bronze medal.
It's a minor setback looking at the grand scheme of things but given the standards China and India have set in this edition and throughout the World Cups, the shooters are bound to be disappointed. Ashi, one of the many talents in India, returned with a tally of 588. The bar has been set high in recent years and even 590 is sometimes not enough. The shooters/team think-tank are well-aware of this trend. Ashi's personal best is 598, which she had set during the National Games earlier this year. Anjum, meanwhile, shot 587.
As far as the talented Sift is concerned, this was always going to be a challenging outing as the Punjab shooter, who had minor back concerns, had been focussing on recovery until recently. "For the last two months, she focussed more on recovery than training. So we need to check how that is working. Her recovery and rehab has been going very well. In controlled matches, she shot really well. She looks good," Deepali Deshpande, the national rifle head coach, had told this daily before the event.
On Thursday, the 25m pistol women event will commence with the precision stages. This is the final Olympic discipline event in the competition. Shooters from both nations will be hoping to return to the podium.
