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SHOOT! Not to Kill

With a few precision shots, India managed to clinch a joint first spot alongside Hungary – drawing curtains on an otherwise lacklustre performance

Shooting competition's season-opener, ISSF World Cup for Rifle and Pistol culminated this week with a power-packed performance by the participating nations as the hosts jointly topped the medals tally with Hungary having 3 golds. ISSF World Cup was brought into existence by the International Shooting Sport Federation in 1986 to give a homogeneous system for qualification in Olympic shooting competitions. Unlike the Quadrennially held ISSF World Shooting Championships, the ISSF World Cup constitutes four competitions per year in each event – Shotgun & Rifle and Pistol (Running Targets discontinued since 2005) – the ISSF World Cup serves as a pipeline to the Olympics. Usually, the two editions of the annual World Cup for Rifle and Pistol are held interchangeably in Munich and Milan, with the other two outside Europe. A number of Olympic Quotas are fixed which provides for direct qualification to the shooting competitions in the next Olympics. In Olympic years, an early World Cup is held at the Olympic venue and considered a Pre-Olympic test event.

This year's first ISSF World Cup for Rifle and Pistol held at New Delhi was comprehensively a bittersweet experience. Packed with a strong Indian contingent of 35 shooters at the outset eyeing gold and Olympics quota, the World Cup had its share of ups and downs. Indian shooters largely suffered setbacks as their run for a medal and a berth to next year's Olympics was reduced to mere participation in all events. The New Delhi edition of ISSF World Cup saw intense competition traced at Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range with 500 athletes from 60 nations participating in 10 medal events with 14 Olympic Quotas available as the icing on the cake. Riding on the home soil enthusiasm, India could only muster one out of 12 Olympic berths it eyed for; Anjum Moudgil and Apurvi Chandela having already bagged two quota places for the country. Major disappointments surged in throughout the span of the tournament for the Indian camp touted as a superpower in Shooting.

Nevertheless, the first Air and Rifle ISSF World Cup of 2019 culminated on a positive note for the hosts as India shared the first position with 3 golds alongside Hungary. Apurvi Chandela opened India's account on the first day itself with a gold medal in 10 m Air Rifle having already grabbed an Olympic quota in the Changwong edition last year. Manu Bhaker who got off to a brilliant start in the Precision Stage of the 25 m Air Pistol but fell short of going all the way, sealing a similar fate in the 10 m Air Pistol event as well. While Heena Sidhu, Anish Bhanwala, Deepak Kumar, Ravi Kumar and Rahi Sarnobat failed to deliver podium finish one by one, the glittering teenager Saurabh Chaudhary delivered in routine fashion winning the second gold medal for India and a Tokyo Olympics Quota in Men's 10 m Air Pistol with a world record score (245). As the Olympic quotas stocked out, Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker combined in Mixed 10 m Air Pistol on the final day to give India its third yellow metal, drawing a joint-top finish in the competition.

Slight controversy grabbed the limelight prior to the start of the World Cup as Pakistan was ruled out from the list of participating nations following denial of visas from the Indian government. This threatened the tournament's Olympic Qualifying status. In the wake of the dastardly attack in Pulwama which has sparked huge cross-border tension between the South Asian neighbours, two Pakistani shooters and their coach were not granted visas to travel to New Delhi for the event. Following the controversy, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) revoked only the two Tokyo 2020 Olympic Quotas from the Men's 25 m Air Pistol event in which the two Pakistani Shooters were listed to participate. However, the organisers managed to save the other Qualifying berths for the Olympics.

While India now rests its Tokyo Olympic qualification chances on the next ISSF World Cup scheduled to be held in Beijing later this year, the recently concluded one will serve as a good catalyst for introspection and consequential preparation. India registered a progressive performance with most of the young guns, some playing their first or second senior-level competition, misfiring with injury, inexperience, distraction and pressure to blame. The added incentive of Olympic Quota alongside medals does run into the conscience, mildly impacting the participants' concentration which was visible the most in Bhaker's two individual events. The lacklustre on display in some ways offers a huge learning potential for the younger generation to absorb their mistakes and come out better in the next outing – Beijing. Having proved themselves at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games last year, the Indian Shooters – especially the young contingent – does not seem to lack the winning mentality. Instead, their loses may prove decisive in turning around their recent results, provided they retrospect.

Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary deserve the credit for getting the hosts on the top of medals chart following a disappointing Indian campaign. Their final day medal single-handedly lifted the mood of the crowd as India finished the tournament on a high note, despite China grabbing most of the qualifying quotas. Gold medallists at the 2018 Youth Olympics, both Manu and Saurabh aced the qualification by shattering the junior record and equalling the senior world record score of 778; Bhaker scored 385 while Chaudhary shot 393.

From there they climbed all the way up, winning gold with a commanding lead of 5.7 points over their nearest rivals, displaying a commanding performance which captivated the home crowd. For Bhaker, the gold was more like a consolation prize following defeats in two of her individual events. But the gold must have certainly raised her spirits along with India's, motivating her to analyse the hindsight and religiously prepare for the next hurdle. Their joint effort accorded India a golden ending to the competition as the curtains drew on our athletes who still managed to take away one very important thing from this sporting spectacle which will aid them in building their legacy – experience!




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