The efforts of indianshooting.com to keep shooters, especially the elite marksmen of the country, competition ready while the pandemic was raging bore fruit on Saturday as Olympic quota winners Yashaswini Singh Deswal and Manu Bhaker did the nation proud by claiming gold and silver medals respectively in the Women’s 10m Air Pistol at the ongoing ISSF World Cup.
World No 1 Divyansh Singh Panwar of India got bronze in Men’s 10m Air Rifle with a late flourish in the finals.
The trio had participated at various stages of the six International Online Shooting Championships (IOSC), conceived by former India shooter Shimon Sharif, and had covered themselves in glory in a field that boasted of some of the world best while shooting from their respective locations.
Yashaswini, who bagged three consecutive gold at the 3rd, 4th and 5th IOSC, continued her golden run with another commanding show. A picture of poise, the 23-year-old World No 4, upstaged the celebrated 19-year-old Manu, ranked No 2 in the world, comfortably in the star studded final. Yashaswini shot 238.8 to ease to the top spot while Manu, also an Olympic quota winner, settled for silver with a score of 236.7. Viktoria Chaika of Belarus got bronze with 215.9. The third Indian in the final, Shri Nivetha, was fourth with a score of 193.5.
Earlier, Yashaswini topped the qualification with 579 while Manu shot the second best with 577. Shri Nivetha shot the fourth best 574.
Manu had got bronze in the 1st IOSC and had finished third best in the 3rd IOSC that was won by Yashaswini. Saturday final was a revenge match in a way for Manu but Yashaswini again proved to be the better shooter on the day. The gold is also an extension of her superb form on the international forum of late. Yashaswini had won gold at the 2019 ISSF World Cup in Rio de Janeiro and 2017 World Championships as a junior in Suhl, Germany. Over the years, she also has three silver in Asian Championships and Junior ISSF World Cup.
At 19, Manu resume in ISSF events is even more impressive with 14 gold and two silver with recent successes being gold medals at the 2019 ISSF World Cups in Putian, China and 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Results:
Women’s 10m Air Pistol: 1. Yashaswini Singh Deswal (India) 238.8 (579); 2. Manu Bhaker (India) 236.7 (577); 3. Viktoria Chaika (Belarus) 215.9 (571); 4. P Shri Nivetha (India) 193.5 (575). MQS: Shweta Singh (India) 573; Esha Singh (India) 567.