ISSF World Cup Final Day 4: India tops medal tally with five Gold medals

The final day of action from the ISSF World Cup Final from Putian, China saw Indian shooters rack up more medals to end on a high note after a slow start.

The first two days had seen none of the Indian shooters manage to get a podium finish with most of the shooters failing to make it past the qualification rounds. However, things took a turn for the better on the third day in China.

Day 3 saw the end of all the individual Air Pistol and Air Rifle events as Indian shooters - Manu Bhaker, Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar managed to get the nation off the mark in China with three gold medals, jumping to the top of the medals tally leaving the home nation China behind (two gold medals).

For the final day of action, the two events scheduled were the 10 metre Air Pistol Mixed Team and 10 metre Air Rifle Mixed Team. All of the shooters who had qualified for individual events were eligible to be a part of the two events.

The mixed team pairings were determined by a random draw, thus setting up teams comprising of shooters from different nations. The winning duo was to be presented with the President's Trophy.

The day started with the 10 metre Air Pistol Mixed Team event as India's Shahar Rizvi was paired with Serbia's Zorana Arunovic, Saurabh Chaudhary partnered with Greek shooter Anna Korakaki and Manu Bhaker formed a team with Russian shooter Artem Chernousov.

The qualification stage saw the India-Serbia pairing of Shahar Rizvi and Zorana Arunovic make it to the Bronze Medal match as they finished in the 3-4 positions. They were up against the Chinese-Russian pairing of Wu Jiayu and Vitalina Batsarashkina.

Some solid shooting from Wu and Vitalina saw them stay in the lead for the most part of the match but Rizvi and Arunovic mounted a comeback to take the match with a 17-15 score in the end and bring about India's first medal of the day.

In the Gold Medal match, Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary were pitted against each other after their respective pairs made the cut for the President's Trophy match with a 1-2 position finish.

Saurabh Chaudhary and Anna Korakaki started strong and enjoyed a 6-2 lead at one point but some stellar shooting from Bhaker and Chernousov saw them lead a comeback.

After a 13-13 tie, Manu Bhaker led the charge with a 10.8 score and made it 15-13 in favour of her pair and sealed the medal as the pair shot 10.6 in the final attempt. The Indo-Russian pairing won the gold medal with a 17-13 score in the end. Saurabh Chaudhary and Anna Korakaki had to settle for the silver medal.

After the 10 metre Air Pistol Mixed Team event came to an end, it was time for the 10 metre Air Rifle Mixed Team event now with three more Indian shooters in the fray for medal positions.

Anjum Moudgil, Apurvi Chandela and Divyansh Singh Panwar were the contenders in the Air Rifle Mixed Team event having been paired with Filip Nepejchal (Czech Republic), Changhong Zhang (China) and Snježana Pejčić (Croatia) respectively.

The qualification round ensued and the Indians shot well to ensure two more medals on the day as the Indo-China pairing of Apurvi Chandela and Changhong Zhang made the Gold medal match along with the Indo-Croatia pair of Divyansh Singh Panwar and Snježana Pejčić.

Chandela and Zhang ran into a 4-0 lead initially with some solid shots and continued to lead at a 6-2 score. However, Panwar and Pejčić pulled their socks up and mounted a surge to make it all square on the board at 8-8.

The close contest between the two mixed teams continued on with impressive shooting as the scores were all even at 14-14. The final round of shots beckoned with the winner set to pocket the gold medal honours.

Pejčić shot a 10.8 to start off well with Panwar racking up a 10.4 to take their final round score to 21.2. Apurvi Chandela carried on her fine form and shot a 10.7 to make matters close yet again as Zhang needed a 10.6 for the gold medal but the Chinese shooter could manage only a 10.1.

This meant the pairing of Divyansh Singh Panwar and Snježana Pejčić won the gold medal in the 10 metre Air Rifle Mixed Team event and the team of Apurvi Chandela and Changhong Zhang settled for the silver medal.

The final piece of action from the Day 4 in Putian rounded off with an impressive haul of five medals for the Indian contingent.

After two days of disappointment, a surge from the Indian shooters saw them pocket a total of 5 Gold medals, 2 Silver medals and 1 Bronze medal, leading the final tally at the ISSF World Cup Final.