Olympics 2021: Vitalina pips Antoaneta at the tape, wins gold in women's 10m air pistol event

Pistol shooter Vitalina Batsarashkina won a gold medal in the women's 10m air pistol event at Olympics 2021 on Sunday.

The 24-years-old shooter from Russia scored an Olympic record of 240.3 points in the eight-shooter final to improve on her silver medal performance from the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.

The Russian contingent is competing under the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) flag at the Tokyo Olympic Games due to sanctions by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for several doping issues.

The final match had a total of 24 shots for each contestant. As per the rules, the shooters are eliminated after the first competitive phase of 10 shots. Bulgarian shooter Antoaneta Kostadinova won silver with a total of 239.4 points.

In intense competition both Vitalina and Antoaneta were neck and neck until the last two shots. The 35-year-old Bulgarian shooter in fact had the upper hand until the last two shots, where Vitalina edged past Antoeneta to take home the gold.

China’s Jiang Ranxin was also in the fray for the top position but slipped down after the 19th shot and she settled for bronze with a total of 218 points.

Ukraine's Olena Kostevych was fourth and Lin Yuemei, the second Chinese shooter in the final, was fifth. Anna Korakaki, the Rio Olympic Games bronze medalist in the 10m air pistol, finished sixth.

Two French shooters, Mathilde Lamolle and Celine Goberville, finished seventh and eighth respectively in the final of the women's 10m air pistol event at Olympics 2021.

No Indian shooters in the finals of the women's 10m air pistol event at Olympics 2021

India’s Manu Bhaker and Yashaswini Singh Deswal failed to make the cut for the eight-shooter final of the 2021 Olympics. Manu shot 575 out of 600 to earn the 12th spot, while Yashaswini scored 574 and was placed 13th in the field with 53 shooters.