ISSF World Championships 2018 Roundup: India claim two Olympic quota places in 10m Air Rifle for women

The 52nd ISSF World Championships took place at Changwon, Korea from 31st August to 14th September. 1806 athletes took part in the event with representations from 90 nations.

China finished on top of the medal positions, winning a total of 43 medals (20 Golds, 15 Silvers, and 8 Bronzes). Hosts South Korea took the second place with 36 medals (11 Golds, 14 Silvers, and 11 Bronzes). India established their stance in the Shooting fraternity, taking the third place with 27 medals (11 Golds, 9 Silvers, and 7 Bronzes).

Sixty Quota places were up for grabs at the World Championships for the 2020 Olympics. Russia collected nine spots, followed by China, who won eight. Hosts South Korea bagged five slots. India captured two quota places and will be looking to get more at the ISSF World Cup, which will take place at New Delhi in February 2019.

The first four places in individual events and the top two positions in team events gained a quota place for the 2020 Olympics.

India finished with 2 Silvers in the Air Rifle discipline at the World Championships. Here's a detailed review of the event.

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10m Air Rifle Men - an Olympic event

Rio Olympic Silver medalist Sergey Kamenskiy held on to his nerves after a shot of 8.9 in his penultimate round almost jeopardized his chance of taking the Gold. In the final shot, he hit a 10.6 as Gorsa of Croatia shot a 9.7 to settle for Silver. World No. 5 Ravi Kumar from India finished in 28th place.

Gold - Sergey Kamenskiy (RUS) 248.4, Silver - Petar Gorsa (CRO) 247.5, Bronze - Miran Maricic (CRO) 227.3, 4th Place - Zicheng Hui (CHN) 206.1.

6th Place - Deepak Kumar (IND) 164.1. 28th Place - Ravi Kumar 625.4. 42nd Place - Gagan Narang (IND) 622.9.

10m Air Rifle Men Team

China created a new world record to win the Gold in the team event. Russia settled for Silver while India finished in 4th place.

Gold - China 1887.4 (WR) (Haoran Yang 632.2, Zicheng Hui 631.3, Haonan Yu 623.9)

Silver - Russia 1884 (Sergey Kamenskiy 632.4, Vladimir Maslennikov 628.0, Alexander Dryagin 623.6)

Bronze - South Korea 1878.5 (Taeyun Nam 628.2, Hyeonjun Kim 626.5, Soojoo Song 623.8)

4th Place - India 1878.4 (Deepak Kumar 630.1, Ravi Kumar 625.4, Gagan Narang (IND) 622.9)

50m Rifle 3 Positions Men - an Olympic event

Tomasz Bartnik of Poland won Gold in 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men (Image Courtesy: Sport.pl)

Bartnik of Poland, ranked 14th in the world, took over the lead from the prone position and signed off in style, 3 points ahead of World No. 6 Gorsa, who settled for Silver. Indian shooters disappointed with Akhil Sheoran the best of the lot, finishing in 44th place.

Gold - Tomasz Bartnik (POL) 460.4, Silver - Petar Gorsa (CRO) 457.4, Bronze - Michael McPhail (USA) 446.9, 4th Place - Henrik Larsen (NOR) 437, 5th Place - Yang Haoran (CHN) 427.4.

44th Place - Akhil Sheoran 1167 (IND), 55th Place - Swapnil Kusale (IND) 1161, 58th Place - Sanjeev Rajput (IND) 1158.

50m Rifle 3 Positions Men Team

Russia claimed the Gold in the Team event, smashing the world record with a score of 3535. India finished at a disappointing 11th place. Belarus surprised everyone by claiming the Bronze.

Gold - Russia 3535 (WR) (Nazar Louginets 1180, Vladimir Maslennikov 1179, Sergey Kamenskiy 1176)

Silver - China 3532 (Haoran Yang 1187, Zicheng Hui 1176, Yuncong Yao 1169)

Bronze - Belarus 3526 (Yury Shcherbatsevich 1185, Vitali Bubnovich 1169, Illia Charheika 1172)

11th Place - India 3503 (Akhil Sheoran 1167, Swapnil Kusale 1161, Sanjeev Rajput 1158)

10m Air Rifle Women - an Olympic event

Hana Im

17-year-old Hana Im of Korea took the Gold as she shot just one score below the 10-point mark to overcome Anjum Moudgil of India and her compatriot Jung. World No. 7 Apurvi Chandela of India took the 4th place and secured an Olympic quota place.

Gold - Hana Im (KOR) 251.1 , Silver - Anjum Moudgil (IND) 248.4, Bronze - Eunhea Jung (KOR) 228. 4th Place - Apurvi Chandela (IND) 207.

48th Place - Mehuli Ghosh (IND) 622.8.

10m Air Rifle Women Team

With two shooters in the top four, Korea and India took the Gold and Silver in the team event with Korea creating a world record score in the process.

Gold - South Korea 1886.2 (WR) (Hana Im 630.9, Eunhea Jung 630.7, Jihyeon Keum 624.6)

Silver - India 1879 (Anjum Moudgil 628.7, Apurvi Chandela 627.5, Meuli Ghosh 622.8)

Bronze - Germany 1878.4 (Isabella Straub 627.1, Selina Gschwandtner 626.4, Julia Anita Simon 624.9)

50m Rifle 3 Positions Women - an Olympic event

Yulia Karimova, Gold medalist in 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women (Image Courtesy: insidethegames.biz)

Karimova from Russia, ranked 40th in the world, and Straub of Germany, ranked 30th in the world, produced an upset by defeating World No. 1 Pejcic of Croatia. Karimova had an amazing day as she led from the start and outscored her other competitors in the fray to take the Gold. Straub of Germany took the Silver while Pejcic of Croatia claimed the Bronze.

Gold - Yulia Karimova (RUS) 461.1, Silver - Isabella Straub (GER) 459.5, Bronze - Snjezana Pejcic (CRO) 446.4, 4th Place - Seonaid McIntosh (GBR) 435.

9th Place - Anjum Moudgil (IND) 1170, 22nd Place - Gayathri Nithyanadam (IND) 1166.

50m Rifle 3 Positions Women Team

Germany took the Team Gold, creating a new world record in the process with Straub impressing everyone with a score of 1180.

Gold - Germany 3521 (WR) (Isabella Straub 1180, Jolyn Beer 1172, Jaqueline Orth 1169)

Silver - Denmark 3518 (Rikke Maeng Ibsen 1174, Stine Nielsen 1172, Stephanie Laura Scurrah Grundsoee 1172)

Bronze - Russia 3511 (Yulia Karimova 1172, Polina Khorosheva 1171, Yulia Zykova 1168)

10th Place - India 3489 (Anjum Moudgil 1170, Gayathri Nithyanadam 1159, Shreya Saksena 1153)

10m Air Rifle Mixed Team - an Olympic event

China won the first quota place at Changwon for the 2020 Olympics by clinching Gold in the 10m Air Rifle mixed team event. The number two Chinese pair at one stage was trailing by 2.4 points and shot brilliantly to take the Gold in the final series. The Indian teams finished in 7th and 25th places respectively.

Gold - China2 500.9 (Ruozhu Zhao, Haoran Yang)

Silver - China1 500.6 (Mingyang Wu, Buhan Song)

Bronze - Russia1 434.2 (Anastasiia Galashina, Vladimir Maslennikov)

7th Place - India1 835.6 (Apurvi Chandela, Ravi Kumar)

25th Place - India2 831.6 (Mehuli Ghosh, Deepak Kumar)

50m Rifle Prone Men

Steffen Olsen of Denmark claimed Gold in 50m Rifle Prone Men

Steffen Olsen of Denmark won the Gold in the 50m Rifle Prone event by edging out Bogar of Norway by 0.4 points. Seasoned shooters Chain Singh and Sanjeev Rajput of India finished in 14th and 48th places respectively.

Gold - Steffen Olsen (DEN) 628.2, Silver - Stian Bogar (NOR) 627.8, Bronze - Thomas Mathis (AUT) 627.1. 14th Place - Chain Singh (IND) 623.9. 48th Place - Sanjeev Rajput (IND) 620.0.

50m Rifle Prone Men Team

None of the individual medallists were able to represent their teams on the podium as Germany took the Gold, followed by USA and China.

Gold - Germany 1869.5 (Daniel Brodmeier 625.8, Christoph Kaulich 621.9, Maximilian Dallinger 621.8)

Silver - USA 1868 (Michael McPhail 624.5, Matthew Emmons 622.8, Lucas Kozeniesky 620.7)

Bronze - China 1866.8 (Zhonghao Zhao 624.2, Jian Sun 623.6, Gang Liu 619.0)

15th Place - India 1856.1 (Chain Singh 622.5, Gagan Narang 618.3, Sanjeev Rajput 615.3)

300m Rifle Prone Men

Rajmond Debevec of Slovenia - Gold medalist in 300m Rifle Prone Men

2012 Olympic Bronze medalist Debevec of Slovenia won Gold ahead of Poland's Romanczyk by hitting 31 shots inside the 10th ring after their scores tied at 592.

Gold - Rajmond Debevec (SLO) 592 (31x), Silver - Daniel Romanczyk (POL) 592 (22x), Bronze - Josip Kuna (CRO) 590. 36th Place - Akash Kumar Ravidas (IND) 563.

300m Rifle Prone Men Team

France took the Gold with Flores scoring 591 points to edge out Switzerland and Norway.

Gold - France 1761 (Remi Moreno Flores 591, Valerian Sauveplane 589, Michael D Halluin 581)

Silver - Switzerland 1757 (Gilles Vincent Dufaux 589, Jan Lochbihler 585, Marcel Ackermann 583)

Bronze - Norway 1755 (Ole Kristian Bryhn 586, Stian Bogar 586, Odd Arne Brekne 583)

10th Place - India 1704 (Akash Kumar Ravidas 575, Parul Kumar 567, Amit Kumar 562)

50m Rifle Prone Women

Seonaid McIntosh of Great Britain took Gold in 50m Rifle Prone Women

McIntosh of Great Britain won the Gold in the Women's 50m prone by a difference of 0.2 points from Straub of Germany. Peskova of Slovakia won the Bronze.

Gold - Seonaid McIntosh (GBR) 623.9, Silver - Isabella Straub (GER) 623.7, Bronze - Daniela Demjen Peskova (SVK) 105.4. 28th Place - Tejaswini Sawant (IND) - 617.4, 33rd Place - Anjum Moudgil (IND) 616.5, 54th Place - Shreya Saksena (IND) 102.7.

50m Rifle Prone Women Team

However, Germany produced a world record with Orth and Straub spearheading the team to take the Gold. Great Britain settled for Bronze while India finished in 6th spot.

Gold - Germany 1871.4 (WR) (Jaqueline Orth 628.4, Isabella Straub 626, Amelie Kleinmanns 617)

Silver - Denmark 1851.2 (Stine Nielsen 618.7, Rikke Maeng Ibsen 617.8, Stephanie Laura Scurrah Grundsoee 614.7)

Bronze - Great Britain 1850.6 (Seonaid McIntosh 622, Jennifer McIntosh 615.9, Zoe Anne Bruce 612.7)

6th Place - India 1848.1 (Tejaswini Sawant 618.6, Anjum Moudgil 617, Shreya Saksena 612.5)

300m Rifle Prone Women

24-year-old Bae Sohee of Korea had a splendid series leading from the start to take home the Gold.

Gold - Sohee Bae (KOR) 592, Silver - Eva Roesken (GER) 588, Bronze - Silvia Guignard Schnyder (SUI) 586. 17th Place - Lajja Gauswami (IND) 577, 33rd Place - Ranjana Gupta (IND) 556.

300m Rifle Prone Women Team

Germany took the Gold in the team event by pipping South Korea.

Gold - Germany 1748 (Eva Roesken 588, Lisa Mueller 584, Jolyn Beer 576)

Silver - South Korea 1737 (Sohee Bae 592, Bitna Eum 582, Sang Hee Bae 563)

Bronze - Switzerland 1737 (Silvia Guignard Schnyder 586, Andrea Bruehlmann 581, Marina Schnider 570)

300m Standard Rifle Men

Aleksi Leppa of Finland claimed the first Gold of his shooting career at Changwon, Korea. Olsson of Sweden claimed the silver from Brekne of Norway with a higher percentage of 21 shots in the inner circle compared to 13 from the Norwegian after their scores tied at 576.

Aleksi Leppa of Finland won Gold in 300m Standard Rifle Men (Image Courtesy - Reimari)

Gold - Aleksi Leppa (FIN) 580, Silver - Karl Olsson (SWE) 576 (21x) Bronze - Odd Arne Brekne (NOR) 576 (13x). 23rd Place - Amit Kumar (IND) 560, 28th Place - Parul Kumar (IND) 553, 34th Place - Akash Kumar Ravidas (IND) 529.

300m Standard Rifle Men Team

Norway took the team Gold ahead of South Korea with three of their shooters scoring above 570.

Gold - Norway 1722 (Odd Arne Brekne 576, Kim Andre Lund 574, Ole Kristian Bryhn 572)

Silver - South Korea 1711 (Young Jeon Choi 576, Won-Gyu Lee 572, Min Ho Cheon 563)

Bronze - Switzerland 1708 (Jan Lochbihler 575, Gilles Vincent Dufaux 574, Andrea Rossi 559)

8th Place - India 1642 (Amit Kumar 560, Parul Kumar 553, Akash Kumar Ravidas 529)

300m Rifle 3 Positions Men

Aleksi Leppa of Finland took home his second Gold from the Games, winning the 300, Rifle 3 positions for Men. Peni of Hungary was three points adrift of Leppa to take Silver.

Gold - Aleksi Leppa (FIN) 1172, Silver - Istvan Peni (HUN) 1169, Bronze - Gilles Vincent Dufaux (SUI) 1167. 24th Place - Parul Kumar (IND) 1134, 28th Place - Amit Kumar (IND) 1124, 35th Place - Akash Kumar Ravidas (IND) 1077.

300m Rifle 3 Positions Men Team

Switzerland was the only team from the individual medalists to make a podium finish, claiming the Silver. Austria took Gold with France settling for Bronze.

Gold - Austria 3469 (Gernot Rumpler 1162, Bernhard Pickl 1158, Stefan Rumpler 1149)

Silver - Switzerland 3461 (Gilles Vincent Dufaux 1167, Jan Lochbiler 1162, Andrea Rossi 1132)

Bronze - France 3459 (Alexis Raynaud 1155, Michael D Halluin 1153, Valerian Sauveplane 1151)

8th Place - India 3335 (Parul Kumar 1134, Amit Kumar 1124, Akash Kumar Ravidas 1077)

300m Rifle 3 Positions Women

26-year-old Lisa Mueller of Germany won the Gold in 300m Rifle 3 positions event after aggregating 37 shots in the inner ring compared to her countrymate Beer who had 33. Both shooters created a new world record with their effort of 1161.

Jolyn Beer won Silver in 300m Rifle 3 Positions Women (Image Courtesy: Deutscher Schützenbund eV)

Gold - Lisa Mueller (GER) 1161 (37x) (WR), Silver - Jolyn Beer (GER) 1161 (33x) (WR), Bronze - Elin Ahlin (SWE) 1159. 12th Place - Lajja Gauswami (IND) 1141, 29th Place - Ranjana Gupta (IND) 1094.

300m Rifle 3 Positions Women Team

The performance from Mueller and Beer helped the Germans to create a new world record in the team event along with Eva Roesken.

Gold - Germany 3469 (WR) (Lisa Mueller 1161, Jolyn Beer 1161, Eva Roesken 1147)

Silver - Austria 3436 (Franziska Peer 1157, Olivia Hofmann 1145, UNGERANK Nadine Ungerank 1134)

Bronze - Switzerland 3429 (Silvia Guignard Schnyder 1150, Marina Schnider 1144, Andrea Bruehlmann 1135)