Zoravar Sandhu wins ISSF World Championships trap bronze

Athens, Oct 17 (PTI) Veteran Indian trap shooter Zoravar Singh Sandhu's nearly three-decade-long toil bore fruit when he won his maiden ISSF World Championships (Shotgun) bronze medal here on Friday.

The medal helped India open its account in the prestigious tournament.

The 48-year-old marksman, who has trained all his life at the Dr Karni Singh Ranges in New Delhi first in skeet and then in trap, shot impressively on the third and final day of trap competition to finish with a score of 31 in the six-shooter final.

Croatia's Josip Glasnovic (44) took the gold, while Andres Garcia of Spain (39) bagged the silver.

Sandhu, a multiple-time national champion and winner of two World Cup medals, had fired two perfect rounds of 25 each on Thursday to rise to second on the qualification leaderboard with a score of 99/100. The Delhi-based marksman shot another 23/25 in the fifth and final qualification round to aggregated 122/125.

The score helped him finish sixth in qualification and enter the medal round.

In the final, Sandhu held his nerve to finish ahead of Croatia's multiple-time World Cup gold medallist and former European champion Anton Glasnovic to take the bronze, the biggest achievement of his career.

The team of Sandhu, Vivaan Kapoor and Bhowneesh Mendiratta aggregated 352 to finish 10th.

In women's trap, India's Aashima Ahlawat finished 40th in a 73-shooter field with 109, while Neeru (109) was 43rd and Kirti Gupta (101) was 62nd. The team aggregated 319 to finish eighth.

Spain took the gold with a score of 355.

The mixed trap team competition will get underway on Saturday with two Indian pairs -- Sandhu and Aashima, and Bhowneesh and Neeru -- in contention. PTI AM AM PDS PDS