Jitu Rai who is being considered as one of the medal prospects for India at Rio Olympics, fell short by 5 points today to make the cut for the Men’s 10m Air Pistol finals at the ISSF World Cup in Munich, Germany.
Jitu shot 579 (96,95,99,95,98,96) to finish 22nd in a strong field of 112 shooters.
The Army shooter who finished 4th in the 50m pistol event on Sunday, has not been able to match his personal best qualification score in air pistol so far at the World Cups this year.
He had shot 580 at the two World Cups held in Bangkok and Rio De Janeiro this year while his personal best qualification score is 585 which he had shot at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.
The other Indians in the event, Rio-Olympics bound shooter Gurpreet Singh shot 578 (96,97,98,95,95,97) to finish 32nd while 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Omkar Singh finished 52nd with a score of 574 (93,97,98,96,95,95). Prakash Nanjappa, who shot in the minimum qualification score (MQS) section, shot a score of 576.
Ukraine’s Oleh Omelchuk won gold, Ismail Keles of Turkey won the silver while 41-year-old Hoang Xuan Vinh of Vietnam took the bronze.
On the other hand, Anjum Moudgil and Lajja Gauswami shot identical scores of 582 in Women’s 50m Rifle Three Position to eventually finish on 15th and 17th spots respectively.
It was a closely fought qualification round where four out of the eight women who made it to the finals had scores of 583, just one point ahead of the Indians.
Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia won the gold while Anzela Voronova of Estonia and Petra Zublasing of Italy settled for the silver and bronze medals respectively.
The Results:
Men’s 10m Air Pistol: 1. Oleh Omelchuk (Ukr) 201.9 (588); 2. Ismail Keles (Tur) 201.1 (585); 3. Xuan Vinh Hoang (Vie) 179.8 (585); 22. Jitu Rai 579; 32. Gurpreet Singh 578; 52. Omkar Singh 574. MQS: Prakash Nanjappa 576.
Women’s 50m Rifle Three Position: 1. Snjezana Pejcic (Cro) 462.7 (584); 2. Anzela Voronova (Est) 456.7 (583); 3. Petra Zublasing (Ita) 446.8 (588); 15. Anjum Moudgil 582); 17. Lajja Gauswami (582).
