Jitu and Heena clinch mixed air pistol gold
October 25, 2017
Reference: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-sports/golden-start-for-india/article19915143.ece
Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu shot their best in the climax to clinch the mixed air pistol gold in the World Cup Final at the Karni Singh range in Tughlakabad on Tuesday.
The otherwise subdued audience erupted to life as Jitu Rai shot the perfect 10.9 twice to lift the team forward at a crucial stage, ahead of France, that saw India eventually prevail by 2.3 points.
“Both of us had a slow start, but once we found the rhythm we kept getting better,” said Heena.
After having topped the qualification in the eight-team field with 767, one point ahead of France, it was a reassuring fare from two of the best pistol shooters of the country.
The title was worth 1200 Swiss Francs each for the two Indians, who also received the trophies apart from the gold medals.
Breaching rules
The other Indian team of Deepak Kumar and Meghana Sajjanar, in action in the mixed air rifle event, breached the rules and was docked two points which proved costly.
Ironically, the Indian team finished fourth, two points behind the second Chinese team after having edged ahead of Iran in a shoot-off following a tie for the fifth place. As per the rules, during the final, the shooter on the left in a team has to shoot first. This format was being introduced for the first time and the Indian team was caught napping.
China took the gold and bronze while Serbia clinched the silver.
The results: Mixed air pistol: 1. India (Jitu Rai, Heena Sidhu) 483.4 (767); 2. France (Florian Fouquet, Celine Goberville) 481.1 (766); 3. China (Cai Xiaoxue, Yang Wei) 418.2 (764).
Mixed air rifle: 1. China-1 (Wu Mingyang, Song Buhan) 499.8 (836.4); 2. Serbia (Milutin Stefanovic, Andrea Arsovic) 496.8 (829.8); 3. China-2 (Shi Mengyao, Sui Gengcheng) 430.3 (837.3); 4. India (Deepak Kumar, Meghana Sajjanar) 387.4 (829.0).
Mixed trap: 1. Spain-1 (Beatriz Martinez, Antonio Bailon) 42 (139)(1, 3); 2. Italy-2 (Jessica Rossi, Giovanni Pellielo) 40 (139)2; 3. USA-1 (Ashley Carroll, Derek Haldeman) 31 (139)(1,4).
