Bhavesh stays in contention for place in final

Ningbo (China), Sep 12 (PTI) India's Bhavesh Shekhawat produced a strong performance on competition day four of the ISSF World Cup for rifle/pistol, finishing fourth in the first stage of the men's 25m rapid fire pistol qualification here on Friday.

Bhavesh thus remains in contention for a place in the finals, but, in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions, the Indian challenge fell short with none of the shooters making it to the final round.

In the RPF event, Bhavesh shot a composed 293-9x with series of 97, 99, and 97 to be placed third overnight.

Germany's Emanuel Mueller leads the field with 295-12x, followed by France's Clement Bessaguet with 294-11x. Among other Indians, Pradeep Singh Shekhawat is placed 24th with 288-8x (98, 95, 95), while Mandeep Singh is 43rd with 272-5x (93, 91, 88).

In the women's 50m rifle 3 positions final, world No.1 Jeanette Hegg Duestad of Norway clinched her second gold of the competition with a score of 466.2, having earlier won in the 10m air rifle mixed team.

Duestad, who has also claimed World Cup gold this year in Munich and silver in Lima, was followed by Denmark's Rikki Maeng Ibsen with silver on 463.3 and Czechia's Barbora Dubska, who secured bronze with 451.4.

For India, Mehuli Ghosh finished 23rd with a total of 583-23x (194 in kneeling, 196 in prone, 193 in standing), while Manini Kaushik shot 580-22x (191, 197, 192) for 45th place.

Surabhi Bhardwaj Rapole ended 52nd with 578-23x (193, 196, 189).

Mehuli, who won a bronze in 10m air rifle at the 2023 Baku World Championship, started well with a 98 in the kneeling position but stumbled in the in the next series to score 96 for an aggregate of 194.

She staged a remarkable recovery in the prone position shooting 99 and 97 for an aggregate of 196, but again faltered in the standing position firing 95.

A 98 in the next 10 shots did not help matters and she could only aggregate 193 in standing position.

While India are yet to open their account on the medals table, China are leading the standings with two gold, three silver and a bronze. Norway are second with two gold medals, while South Korea are third with a gold, a silver and a bronze.

India will later see Olympians Rhythm Sangwan and Esha Singh, alongside Surabhi Rao, compete in the women's 10m air pistol qualification.

The field of 59 athletes includes some of the sport's top names such as world No.2 and 10m air pistol mixed team gold medallist Qianxun Yao of China and world No.5 Camille Jedrzejewski of France, silver medallist at the Munich World Cup. PTI AM TAP AH TAP