Suruchi clinches gold, Sainyam silver in season-ending shooting WC Final

Doha, Dec 6 (PTI) Talented shooter Suruchi Singh came up with yet another commanding performance to clinch the women's 10m air pistol gold, while compatriot Sainyam took the silver as India made a big splash on the opening day of the season-ending ISSF World Cup Final, here Saturday.

After a disappointing outing by the 10m rifle exponents earlier during the day, Suruchi lit up the day by firing a superb 245.1 in the final on her way to the top podium finish, while former junior world champion Sainyam made it a gold-silver finish for the country with a score of 243.3.

Double Olympic bronze-medallist Manu Bhaker, who also made it to the final, finished fifth tallying 179.2.

Suruchi, who was ranked No.1 in the world in September-October following four back-to-back World Cup gold medals earlier this year, was in great form as she finished the qualification round in the elite 12-shooter field in second place with an aggregate of 586.

Bhaker (578) came in sixth, while Sainyam (573), the 2023 junior world champion, barely managed to make the final after finishing eighth in qualification.

However, the final saw the 21-year-old Sainyam in a different zone altogether as she led the field for a major part of the final before conceding the top spot to Suruchi after shooting four below-average scores of 9.5 each in the elimination round.

Suruchi, the daughter of a Havildar hailing from Jhajjar -- the same district as Bhaker -- earned Euro 5,000 for her effort, while Sainyam received a pay cheque of Euro 4,000.

India's former world champion Rudrankksh Patil and Paris Olympic finalist Arjun Babuta missed out on medals in men's 10m air rifle, finishing fourth and sixth respectively.

Elavenil Valarivan also came up short in women's 10m air rifle, finishing ninth in the qualification round, failing to make the eight-shooter final.

Rudrankksh, the 2022 world champion who has shown good form this season by clinching the World Cup gold in Buenos Aires, came into the star-studded final after finishing fourth in the qualification round with a score of 631.9.

Babuta entered the eight-shooter final after finishing third 633.3 even as double Olympic gold medallist at the Paris Olympics, China's Sheng Lihao led the field tallying 637.7, while former world champion Victor Lindgren of Sweden was second with a score of 633.5.

The top-class final saw Rudrankksh shoot just one below-par score of 9.8 in his second shot of the first series, which made the difference in the end as the Indian tallied 209.9.

Lindgren took the gold and Euro 5,000 in prize cheque with a score of 253.0, while Lihao bagged the silver (252.6) and Euro 4,000 in prize money.

Another stalwart, Hungary's Istvan Peni won the bronze.

Elavenil, fresh from her World Championships bronze medal in Cairo, could not make the eight-shooter final as she finished ninth in qualification with a score of 630.

World Championships bronze medallist in trap, Zorawar Sandhu was placed ninth among 12 shooters after he notched up 70/75 on day one of competition.

He shot 23, 24 and 23 in the three round of 25 each, and will return to the range on Sunday for two more rounds before the six finalists can be spotted.

The veteran marksman is the sole entry from India in the shotgun competition. PTI AM AM AT AT