Did Aishwary Tomar Make History with Silver at His World Cup Debut?
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
Doha, Dec 7 (NationPress) India's Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar achieved a remarkable feat by clinching a silver medal in the 50m rifle 3 positions event during his debut at the ISSF World Cup Final on Sunday. This victory marks the completion of a full set of medals across all major world and continental championships.
Jiri Privratsky from the Czech Republic secured the gold, scoring 414.2 in the final, which was held under the new ISSF format of 40 shots, finishing just 0.9 points ahead of Aishwary. The bronze medal was awarded to Liu Yukun, the Olympic champion.
On this occasion, two Indian competitors faced challenges: Sift Kaur Samra in the women's 3P and Manu Bhaker in the women's 25m pistol. Manu ranked ninth in her qualification round with a total of 581 points, while Sift placed tenth with a score of 584.
Aishwary, who is the reigning Asian champion, a former junior world champion, and a two-time Olympian, had previously secured a silver medal at the World Championship last month.
He finished second in the qualification round with a score of 595, just behind Tian Jiaming of China, who set a world record with a score of 598.
Three Chinese shooters made it into the top eight, alongside Istvan Peni from Hungary and Jon-Hermann Hegg from Norway.
In the initial kneeling position, after two series of five shots each, Aishwary stood fourth with a score of 102.8. As he transitioned into the prone position for the next ten shots, he climbed to second place on the leaderboard with impressive scores of 52.9 and 52.
Privratsky, who was 3.3 points ahead of Aishwary at that stage, was making his own mark. With 20 shots remaining in the standing position, Liu held third place. Over the next ten shots, Aishwary outperformed Privratsky, narrowing the gap to just 1.5 points. After the 31st shot, the difference shrank to 0.5 as Privratsky struggled to consistently hit the 10-ring.
French shooter Romain Aufrere faced off against the Olympic champion in the bronze match, while Privratsky regained a 0.5 point lead after the 37th shot with two high scores of 10, even as Aishwary faced a minor setback.
Ultimately, Privratsky claimed the gold, marking his third ISSF gold medal of the year, while Aishwary's final shot scored 10.1 against Privratsky's 10.3, and Aishwary's last shot was a 10.6. The final margin was merely 0.3 points ahead of the last two shots.