ISSF World Championships 2018 Roundup: India claim two Olympic quota places in 10m Air Rifle for women
The 52nd ISSF World Championships took place at Changwon, Korea from 31st August to 14th September. 1806 athletes took part in the event with representations from 90 nations.
China finished on top of the medal positions, winning a total of 43 medals (20 Golds, 15 Silvers, and 8 Bronzes). Hosts South Korea took the second place with 36 medals (11 Golds, 14 Silvers, and 11 Bronzes). India established their stance in the Shooting fraternity, taking the third place with 27 medals (11 Golds, 9 Silvers, and 7 Bronzes).
Sixty Quota places were up for grabs at the World Championships for the 2020 Olympics. Russia collected nine spots, followed by China, who won eight. Hosts South Korea bagged five slots. India captured two quota places and will be looking to get more at the ISSF World Cup, which will take place at New Delhi in February 2019.
The first four places in individual events and the top two positions in team events gained a quota place for the 2020 Olympics.
India finished with 2 Silvers in the Air Rifle discipline at the World Championships. Here's a detailed review of the event.
10m Air Rifle Men - an Olympic event
Rio Olympic Silver medalist Sergey Kamenskiy held on to his nerves after a shot of 8.9 in his penultimate round almost jeopardized his chance of taking the Gold. In the final shot, he hit a 10.6 as Gorsa of Croatia shot a 9.7 to settle for Silver. World No. 5 Ravi Kumar from India finished in 28th place.
Gold - Sergey Kamenskiy (RUS) 248.4, Silver - Petar Gorsa (CRO) 247.5, Bronze - Miran Maricic (CRO) 227.3, 4th Place - Zicheng Hui (CHN) 206.1.
6th Place - Deepak Kumar (IND) 164.1. 28th Place - Ravi Kumar 625.4. 42nd Place - Gagan Narang (IND) 622.9.
10m Air Rifle Men Team
China created a new world record to win the Gold in the team event. Russia settled for Silver while India finished in 4th place.
Gold - China 1887.4 (WR) (Haoran Yang 632.2, Zicheng Hui 631.3, Haonan Yu 623.9)
Silver - Russia 1884 (Sergey Kamenskiy 632.4, Vladimir Maslennikov 628.0, Alexander Dryagin 623.6)
Bronze - South Korea 1878.5 (Taeyun Nam 628.2, Hyeonjun Kim 626.5, Soojoo Song 623.8)
4th Place - India 1878.4 (Deepak Kumar 630.1, Ravi Kumar 625.4, Gagan Narang (IND) 622.9)
50m Rifle 3 Positions Men - an Olympic event
Bartnik of Poland, ranked 14th in the world, took over the lead from the prone position and signed off in style, 3 points ahead of World No. 6 Gorsa, who settled for Silver. Indian shooters disappointed with Akhil Sheoran the best of the lot, finishing in 44th place.
Gold - Tomasz Bartnik (POL) 460.4, Silver - Petar Gorsa (CRO) 457.4, Bronze - Michael McPhail (USA) 446.9, 4th Place - Henrik Larsen (NOR) 437, 5th Place - Yang Haoran (CHN) 427.4.
44th Place - Akhil Sheoran 1167 (IND), 55th Place - Swapnil Kusale (IND) 1161, 58th Place - Sanjeev Rajput (IND) 1158.
50m Rifle 3 Positions Men Team
Russia claimed the Gold in the Team event, smashing the world record with a score of 3535. India finished at a disappointing 11th place. Belarus surprised everyone by claiming the Bronze.
Gold - Russia 3535 (WR) (Nazar Louginets 1180, Vladimir Maslennikov 1179, Sergey Kamenskiy 1176)
Silver - China 3532 (Haoran Yang 1187, Zicheng Hui 1176, Yuncong Yao 1169)
Bronze - Belarus 3526 (Yury Shcherbatsevich 1185, Vitali Bubnovich 1169, Illia Charheika 1172)
11th Place - India 3503 (Akhil Sheoran 1167, Swapnil Kusale 1161, Sanjeev Rajput 1158)