Sift wins bronze in Munich, Babuta disappoints
New Delhi: Two months after she shot her maiden senior World Cup gold, Sift Kaur Samra stood on the podium again, this time clinching the third place at the ongoing Munich World Cup on Thursday. The 23-year-old shot 453.1 to finish behind Norway's Jeanette Hegg Duestad (466.9)and Swiss 16-year-old Emely Jaeggi (464.8).
Sift, a Paris Olympian, was the only Indian in the eight-shooter final with compatriot Ashi Chouksey ending 11th. Sift was placed second after the qualification with a score of 592 behind Frenchwoman Agathe Cecile Girard, who also shot the same score but had five more inner-10s than the Indian.
Asian Games bronze medallist Chouksey missed the finals by two points — she shot 589 — but an impressive inner-10 count of 34 underlined her form.
In the final, Duestad and Jaeggi found their rhythm early and occupied the top two positions after the kneeling round. At that stage, Sift trailed Paris silver medallist USA's Sagen Maddalena by 1.9 points. The pecking order didn't change after the next Prone round with the gap between Sift and Maddalena increasing to 2.6 points.
Sift began to claw her way back after the first series of the standing round when she drew level with the US shooter. A strong Standing shooter, Sift nosed ahead of the US shooter in the second Standing series and never ceded the advantage.
Duestad and Jaeggi were not at their best in the single-shot Standing sequence from the 40th shot onwards but Sift shot with great control, hitting a 10 or more in each of her four shots. However, the lead conceded in the Kneeling and Prone rounds came back to haunt Sift who bowed out in the third place after the 44th competition shot.
The seasoned Anjum Moudil, shooting only for the ranking points (RPO), ended 27th (586) while Shriyanka Sadangi finished a lowly 53rd. Nischal, another Indian shooter in RPO, languished in the 60th spot among the 70 competitors.
Sift's medal was India's second medal in the Munich event, considered the toughest of the World Cups given the quality field that usually turns up. On Tuesday, air rifle shooter Elavenil Valarivan had opened India's account with a bronze.
Disappointing returns in men's rifle
The highly-anticipated men's 10m air rifle turned out to be a damp squib for India with none of its shooters making the final. Umamahesh Maddineni, shooting for RPO, was seventh in the qualification with a solid 632.3 and easily the best Indian on view.
Kiran Jadhav shot 631.7 in qualification to finish 11th, missing the top-eight by 0.1 points. Paris Olympics finalist Arjun Babuta, shooting with a new variant of Walther rifle, aggregated a disappointing 629.1 to take the 43rd place while Sandeep Singh's 628.3 put him in the 53rd position.
'There is more than enough time for the big events which gives me an opportunity to experiment with my technique, tactics, and equipment. I am not really looking at the end result; at this stage, it is just about getting the process right and enjoying the sport,' Babuta had said before leaving for Munich.
Russia's Ilia Marsov, competing as a neutral athlete, won the gold (252.3) while Norwegian Jon-Hermann Hegg was next with 252 points. Chinese prodigy and reigning Olympic champion Lihao Sheng (230.2) completed the top three.
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