In a field of Olympic and world champions, India’s Anuradha Devi announced her arrival on the international scene with silver at the ISSF World Cup in Cairo on Friday.
Making her debut on the world stage at 33, Anuradha’s silver in women’s 10m air pistol was just a shade less to Greek shooting star Anna Korakaki’s gold.
Gold medallist in 25m pistol and bronze in 10m air pistol at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Korakaki shot 241.1 (577), while Anuradha came next with a score of 239.9 (575). The bronze went to Kazakhstan’s Irina Yunusmetova at 219.2 (576).
Rhythm Sangwan, who won an Olympic quota earlier this month in 25m pistol at the Asia Olympic Qualification in Jakarta, finished 4th with a score of 197.3.
The finish in Cairo was a disappointment for the 20-year-old Rhythm as she topped the qualification with a score of 584 ahead of the celebrated Austrian Sylvia Steiner (580) and Rio Olympian Veronika Major of Hungary (578).
Anuradha was 9th and final shooter to qualify for the final after she shot 575. Another Indian Sainyam finished 7th with a score of 576 but did not make the final as she was competing for RPO. Another Olympic quota winner Manu Bhaker had a poor outing, finishing 18th with a score of 572.
Anuradha seemed to be in disbelief after her epic show in the final. “It was my first final in an international event and shooting silver is unbelievable,” she said.
A late starter, Anuradha took to the sport in 2019 but before she could find her feet the pandemic struck and set her back. But she kept faith and resumed practice as the restrictions eased, and proof of her perseverance was the medal in such a short span.
The men disappointed in 10m air pistol with Varun Tomar, who recently won an Olympic quota at the Asia Olympic Qualification in Jakarta, finished 14th with 578 in RPO.
The best Indian on show was Sagar Dangi, who fnished 6th with 158.3 (582) to qualify for the final at the fifth spot. Ujjawal Malik (579) and Ravinder Singh (577) finished 10th and 18th respectively.
It was a Korean 1-2 in qualification as Hojin Lim (586) and Wonho Lee finished ahead of Ukraine’s Tokyo Olympian Oleh Omelchuk (583).
Lim held on to the top spot in the final, and showed why he is World No 1 in the event. The 23-year-old shot 241.9 to edge Bulgaria’s Samuil Donkov (241.7) to gold. Donkov shot a qualification score of 580. The bronze went to Latvia’s Lauris Strautmanis with 220.4 (582).