Changwon: India’s Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar took the gold medal in the 50m rifle 3 position event at the ISSF shooting World Cup here on Saturday.
The 21-year-old Indian stamped his class, taking the win over 2018 Youth Olympic Champion Zalan Peklar of Hungary 16-12 to claim the top prize.
Reigning junior world champion Tomar had previously led the qualifying round with a score of 593. This was Tomar’s second gold in the Shooting World Cup, having won his first in New Delhi last year.
The Madhya Pradesh shooter’s gold was India’s fourth in the ongoing competition. India consolidated its position as the leader in the medal tally with a total of nine medals (four gold, four silver and one bronze).
Although Peklar faced a tough challenge in the final, Tomar kept his cool and pulled out the big trump cards from his repertoire to hold out for himself at the last moments.
The seasoned Istvan, also from Hungary, took the bronze in the event.
In the ranking round, Tomar had shot perfect scores in the first two kneeling and lying positions, but had lost all his seven points in the last standing position.
Chain Singh, another Indian in the fray, finished seventh in the final event.
Earlier in the day, India missed out on a medal when the 2019 World Cup Champion, Manu Bhakar, suffered a heartbreaking loss, finishing fourth in the women’s 25m Pistol final.
After doing well in ranking matches where she outperformed eventual Singapore gold winner Xiu Hong Teh, Manu was eliminated with just nine hits in the final.
The 2018 Changwon World Cup silver medalist and seasoned Anjum Moudgil has qualified for the women’s 50m rifle final to be held on Sunday after finishing sixth in the rankings round.
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