Sonam Uttam Maskar finished a fighting fifth in the women’s 10m air rifle final as India concluded their ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol campaign in Granada, Spain, with a tally of one gold medal.
Sonam shot 188.5, bowing out after the 18th shot of the 24-shot final, just 0.8 points behind her nearest rivals at that stage. Among them was world No. 1 Wang Zifei, who went on to win gold with 252.9 points. Jeanette Hegg Duestad took silver with 252.4, while Han Jiayu claimed bronze with 231.5.
India, which fielded shooters largely ranked between fourth and sixth domestically in the season’s opening World Cup leg, reached seven finals but managed just one gold. The 10m air pistol pair of Mukesh Nelavalli and Palak won gold on the opening day. India finished third in the medal standings, with China topping the table with eight golds and 13 medals.
Sonam had earlier shot 632.8 in the first qualification relay to enter the final in seventh place. Mehuli Ghosh finished 44th with 627.3, while Shruti placed 63rd with 624.8 in the 91-strong field.
Among RPO (ranking points only) shooters, Narmada Nithin Raju scored 629.0 and Rajshree Sancheti 628.1.
In the final, Sonam began strongly with a 10.6 but followed it with a 9.8, which proved costly in a high-quality field. She stayed in contention by avoiding elimination three times, with a perfect 10.9 on her 14th shot being a highlight. However, despite finishing with a 10.5, she fell short of a podium finish.
Earlier, in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions qualification, Niraj Kumar shot 589, while Akhil Sheoran scored 588 to finish 15th and 22nd respectively. Chain Singh had been eliminated earlier.
-IANS
