Little-known Sonam Maskar provided the silver lining on a rather disappointing day for India with the Kolhapur shooter finishing second in the 10m air rifle event on the opening day of the ISSF World Cup Final here on Tuesday. ( Highlights| More Sports News)
Tilottama Sen, after the disappointment of missing out on the Olympic Selection Trials earlier this year, finished sixth in the eight-shooter final.
Arjun Babuta, after missing bronze in Paris, was again unlucky to end up fifth in men's 10m air rifle despite the young marksman from Chandigarh leading the field for a good part of the medal round.
A poor 9.8 in the fourth elimination round saw his medal chances go up in smoke in the elite competition being held at the Karni Singh Range.
Olympian Rhythm Sangwan saw her bronze medal chances evaporate in women's 10m air pistol following a shot that fetched her just eight points in the fifth elimination round, as the Indian finished fourth.
She had earlier made a valiant effort, climbing from eighth position to third, but all the hard work was undone in the end. She finished with a score of 197.2.
Upcoming shooter Surbhi Rao finished fifth
France's Camille Jedrzejewski clinched the gold medal in style with a final shot that fetched her a perfect 10.9, as the Paris Olympic silver medallist in 25m sports pistol added a second World Cup final gold to her bag.
She had earlier won gold in the 2022 World Cup final.
Olympian Arjun Singh Cheema's woeful season ended in more despair with the 10m air pistol marksman finishing last in the 10m air pistol final after a series of rank bad shots.
However, Sonam, who took up shooting just two years back, won the biggest medal of her short career with unrivalled display of marksmanship.
Inspired by Abhinav Bindra's gold medal-winning feat at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Sonam took up the sport in 2018 but the Covid pandemic put the brakes on her shooting aspirations.
She gave it another shot in 2022 and qualified for the National Championships from West Zone.
Once she secured a place in the National Centre of Excellence here, Sonam made the most of the opportunity, and on Tuesday, it was very much apparent.
She shot 632.1 in the qualification round to finish fourth going into the final in a high-quality field.
The B.Com final year student then came up with some breathtaking scores in the medal round to earn the silver.
"The feeling is so good that I won a sliver medal. I train at the same venue and with the fans and team-mates cheering for me, I was extremely motivated for the final," said Sonam, who hails from Kolhapur, which has produced several top-notch rifle shooters like world champion Tejaswini Sawant and Paris Olympics bronze medallist Swapnil Kusale.
On her entry into the Indian squad, she said, "I qualified for the Nationals from West Zone, from there I gave good trials and made it to the national team.
I took up shooting after getting inspired by Abhinav Bindra.
"I worked really hard for this event here. I was missing an individual World Cup medal by a few decimal points and it was affecting me. But I tried to keep those thoughts away and overcame that hurdle today."
In women's skeet, Ganemat Sekhon was the best Indian on show on day one of qualification, shooting 74 out of 75 to stay behind leader Samantha Simonton (75) of the USA. Olympian Maheshwari Chauhan was further back with 69.
In men's skeet, Olympian Anantjeet Singh Naruka shot 73 to be in third position in the 10-man field.
Veteran Mairaj Khan was lying seventh with 71.
In men's trap, Vivaan Kapoor shot 73 to lie second behind Australian James Willet on count-back, while Bhowneesh Mendiratta was placed fourth with 72 hits after the first three rounds.
Shreyasi Singh and Rajeshwari Kumari shot dismal 66 and 58 respectively to lie ninth and 11th respectively in women's trap competition. Paris Olympics silver medallist Silvana Maria Stanco of Italy led the field with a perfect 75
