Zalan pekler

ISSF World Cup Final: The Indian Shooting squad made two more finals in Doha’s Lusail Shooting range, but a medal still eluded them on competition day two of the season-ending ISSF World Cup Final (WCF). Ganemat Sekhon finished second at the end of day one of qualifications in the women’s skeet, raising hopes yet again, even as Hriday Hazarika and Elavenil Valarivan in the men’s and women’s air rifle registered two more seventh place finishes after reaching the top eights, emulating Divya TS’s effort in the women’s air pistol from day one.

Early on Wednesday, Hriday shot 629.4 to qualify in eighth place while Elavenil also took the eighth and final qualifying spot with a score of 630.8. The Indians who missed out on a top-eight spot on the day were Rudrankksh Patil among the men and Ramita Jindal and Mehuli Ghosh among women. While the former shot a subdued 626.1 to finish 13th, Ramita and Mehuli were ninth and 10th with scores of 629.4 and 628.3 respectively.

In the men’s air rifle final, Hriday began with a 10.6 and returned a score of 51.9 after the first five-shot series to be in fifth position. His eighth shot was a 10.9 but his fifth and sixth being in the nine-ring meant he would go down to seventh after 10 shots. He did improve to sixth after his 12th shot but German Maximillian Ulbrich outgunned him in the 13th and 14th as the Indian bowed. Zalan Pekler of Hungary won gold.