A competition on home turf comes with its share of expectations, which can often weigh heavily on even the best in the business.
The opening day of the ISSF World Cup Final in New Delhi was no different, as celebrated shooters like Arjun Babuta, Divyansh Singh Panwar, and Rhythm Sangwan succumbed to the pressure of performing in front of a home audience at the Karni Singh Shooting Range.
However, the unheralded Sonam Uttam Maskar saved the day for the hosts by clinching their only medal—a silver in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle. The 22-year-old, who had already made a mark with a silver at the Cairo World Cup earlier this year, showcased her mettle once again by scoring 632.1 in qualification, finishing fourth. Fellow Indian Tilottama Sen, just 16 years old, qualified for the final in seventh place with a score of 628.9.
Germany’s Anna Janssen, the Paris Olympian and Cairo World Cup gold medallist, topped the qualification with a world record of 636.9. She was followed by France’s two-time Olympian Oceanne Muller (634.0) and China’s Huang Yuting, the Paris Olympics silver medallist, with 633.3.
The final lived up to the high expectations, with Huang, just 18, setting a new world record of 254.5 to take gold. Sonam claimed silver with a score of 252.9, followed by Oceanne Muller at 231.1 after 22 shots. Tilottama placed sixth, with a score of 167.7 after 16 shots, gaining valuable experience in the elite field.
Reflecting on her performance, Sonam shared: “I have been working hard for this and it was worth it. I was just focusing on myself in the finals. I was a little bit nervous, but it went really well. It felt really good that everyone was cheering me on during the finals.”
The Men’s 10m Air Rifle was the blue-riband event for India with Paris Olympian Arjun Babuta and former world record holder Divyansh Singh Panwar in the fray. Arjun, who missed the podium in Paris narrowly, was eyeing redemption, and his show in qualification pointed towards a strong finish.
Gold medallist at the 2022 Changwon World Cup, Arjun shot 631.6 to finish behind Italy’s Dennis Danilo Sollazzo (633.8), a Paris Olympian and gold medallist at the 2022 Cairo World Championship, in qualification.
China’s 19-year-old wonderkid Sheng Lihao was third also with a 631.6, but was ranked behind Arjun on account of lesser inner 10s. Divyansh lay 5th with a 631.2.
Sheng, gold medallist at the Paris Olympics and silver in Tokyo, came into his own in the final but was tested by Hungary’s three-time Olympian Istvan Peni, who ended with a 10.8, but Sheng prevailed by 0.1 to take gold with a 251.4. The bronze went to the Czech Republic’s Jiri Privratsky, a two-time Olympian and bronze medallist at last year’s Doha World Cup Final, for a score of 229.8 (after 22 shots).
Arjun and Divyansh failed to step up when required and finished 5th (188.3 after 18 shots) and 8th (124 after 12 shots) respectively. Austria’s two-time Olympian Martin Strempfl was 4th with a 208.7 (after 20 shots).
Like Arjun, Rhythm had a chance to make up for the disappointment at the Paris Olympics, and she seemed to start in right earnest by topping qualification comfortably with a 579.
China’s Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Jiang Ranxin trailed Rhythm by two points at 577, and defending champion Camille Jedrzejewski, silver medallist in her home Olympics in Paris, followed at 575. Surbhi Rao, the other Indian in the fray, finished 4th with a 574.
Rhythm could not maintain the momentum in the final, and the intermittent low scores hurt her, and she finished 4th with a 197.2. Camille shot a perfect 10.9 in her final shot to successfully defend the title she won in Cairo two years ago for gold again (240.8.0) by a convincing margin. Chinese Taipei’s Liu Heng Yu was next at 237.4, followed by Egypt’s African champion Hala Elgohari with a 215.7 (after 22 shots). Surbhi finished 5th with a score of 176.6 (after 18 shots).
Indian medal hopes in Men’s 10m Air Pistol rested on Paris Olympian Arjun Singh Cheema and Varun Tomar, and the 23-year-old Arjun did well by finishing 5th in qualification with a 580. Varun (575) missed making the eight-man final with his 10th finish in the 12-man field.
Turkey’s Yusuf Dikec, who had taken the Paris Olympics by storm with his unconventional style en route the silver in 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team, made a shocking exit by finishing 11th after shooting 572.
The top name in qualification was Paris Olympic gold medallist Xie Yu, and the Chinese showed his class by running away an easy winner with a 588. Turkey’s Bugra Selimzade (581) and Korea’s Wonho Lee (581) made up 2-3.
Yu maintained his stranglehold in the final and walked away with the top honours by shooting 244.6. Germany’s Robin Walter (243.3) and Italian Federico Nilo Maldini (221.7 after 22 shots), silver medallist at the Paris Games, completed the podium. As the first name to be eliminated, Arjun finished 8th with 109.9 after 12 shots.