Pune, April 5, 2013: Lakshya-Vascon supported Rahi Sarnobat
bagged the first gold medal for India
in the ISSF World Cup in Changwon ,
Korea
Rahi is the first ever Indian pistol shooter to win an ISSF
World Cup gold and joins the elite club of rifle shooters – Anjali Bhagwat,
Gagan Narang, Sanjeev Rajput, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Ronjan Sodhi and
Manavjit Singh Sandhu – who have won gold in the ISSF World Cups for India .
The Indian markswoman, who had qualified for the semifinal
stage in fourth position with a total score of 585, had sealed her final berth
as the second best semi-finalist with 15 points. Kim topped the standings with
16 after the five series.
According to the new competition rules, top eight players
from the preliminaries qualify for the semifinals where points are given
according to the number of inner tens scored by a shooter in each series of five
shots.
The top two shooters then qualify for the final, while the
third and fourth placed shooters face each other in the Bronze medal play-off.
In the race-to-seven points final, a player get two points
for winning the series, while a point each is given if both the shooters are
tied.
After two tied series, Rahi was first to get off the block
in the third and opened up a two point lead. But Kim hit back immediately
winning the next two series take a 6-4 lead and push the Indian to the corner.
Facing a must win situation, Rahi upped the ante while her
opponent struggled to keep her composure and lost the sixth and seventh series
3-1 and 2-1 respectively to hand the gold to the Indian.
“It is a dream come true for me. I had been working hard
with coach Anatoli Puddubny for the last few months at the Gun for Glory
Academy and I am thankful to Lakshya and Vascon for the support they are
providing me in this respect,” said Rahi, who had earlier won a bronze medal in
the 2011 ISSF World Cup in USA and book a berth in the 2012 London Olympics.
It was, however, a disappointing end for the other Indian
challenger. 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anisa Sayyed finished
21st with a score of 572, while national champion Sushma Singh managed a
score of 570 to finish 26th.
In the 10m Air Rifle event, none of the three Indian
contenders managed to reach the final with national champion Apurvi Chandela
finishing 30th with a total score of 407.8. Pooja Ghatkar was India ’s best
performer with a score of 410.3 while Elizabeth Susan Koshy managed to shoot a
score of 409.4 to finish 25th.
Press release
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