Apurvi Chandela wins year's second women's 10m Air Rifle World Cup gold
New Delhi: India's Apurvi Chandela continued her golden run of form, winning the women's 10m Air Rifle after a closely-fought contest on Sunday at the year's third International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol stage in Munich, Germany.
The shooter from Jaipur shot a score of 251 in the final to outshine Wang Luyao of China, who shot 250.8, to settle for the silver medal. Another Chinese shooter, Xu Hong, finished third with a score of 229.4 in the final.
It was a neck-and-neck battle between Apurvi and Wang, where the Indian was just 0.1 ahead as she shot a 10.4 to Wang's 10.3 to clinch the issue.
This was Apurvi's second ISSF World Cup gold of the year followed by a world record score in New Delhi in February. In the second Beijing leg she had finished just outside the medal bracket -- at fourth place.
This was also Apurvi's career's fourth ISSF medal.
Another Indian in the fray today, Elavenil Valarivan also made it to the finals along with teammate Apurvi but narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fourth. She lost to eventual bronze medallist Xu Hong of China by just 0.1 points.
After 20 shots in the 24-shot final, Xu edged out Elavenil 208.4 to 208.3.
Earlier, all three Indians in the 149-strong qualifying field had a solid start with Apurvi and Elavenil taking the top two spots with scores of 633 and 632.7 after 60-shots each.
Anjum Moudgil shot 628.9 to finish in 11th place, just 1.1 points outside the final qualifying score of 630.0. Indians had a good day at other events as well.
After the first round of qualifying in the women's 25m Pistol, Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat stood in second position with a score of 294.
A good rapid fire round on Monday and she can fancy her chances of winning a medal as well as an Olympic quota. Manu Bhaker shot 289 and was a bit behind in 24th spot, while Chinki Yadav shot 276 to be in 95th place.
The two Tokyo 2020 Olympic quotas available on the day went to Laura-Georgeta Coman of Romania and 16-year old Hungarian Eszter Meszaros, who finished 5th and 6th respectively in the women's 10m air rifle, given the top four consisting of two Indians and two Chinese were not eligible.
India already has five quota places in Rifle and Pistol competitions.
As a result they forfeited their right to quotas in the women's air rifle and men's 10m air pistol competitions, given they have already secured the maximum possible two quotas in these events.
Apurvi, Anjum, Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma and Divyansh Singh Panwar have secured quotas for the country so far. India's other quota is in the men's 10m air rifle and thus the shooters would be eligible for only one quota.
Monday will witness three finals with six Tokyo quota places up for grabs
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Sujit Nair raises concerns over speculation of DMK-AIADMK understanding to block TVK
Chennai: Journalist and political commentator Sujit Nair has expressed concern over speculation that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam could explore a post-poll understanding to prevent Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam from forming the government in Tamil Nadu.
In a social media post, Sujit Nair said the election verdict in Tamil Nadu reflected a clear public demand for political change and argued that the mandate should be respected irrespective of political preferences.
Referring to reports and political discussions surrounding a possible understanding between the DMK and AIADMK, he said he hoped such developments remained only speculative conversations and did not turn into reality.
Nair stated that if such an alliance were to take shape, it would raise serious questions about ideological politics in the country. He said TVK had emerged through a democratic electoral process and that the legitimacy to govern in a parliamentary democracy comes from the people’s verdict.
According to him, attempts to prevent an electoral winner from forming the government through unexpected political arrangements may be constitutionally valid, but many people could view them as politically opportunistic.
He further said that such a move could particularly affect the political image of the DMK, which has historically projected itself around ideology, social justice and opposition politics. Nair said that in ideological terms, the DMK appeared closer to TVK than to the AIADMK, and joining hands with its long-time political rival only to remain in power could weaken its broader political narrative.
He added that the same questions would apply to the AIADMK as well, as the party had spent decades positioning itself against the DMK and such an arrangement could create discomfort among its cadre and supporters.
Drawing a comparison with Maharashtra politics in 2019, Nair said he had expressed similar views when the Shiv Sena formed an alliance with the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party after the Assembly elections.
He said post-poll alliances between long-standing political rivals often create a public perception that ideology and electoral mandates become secondary when political power equations come into play.
Nair also said such developments increase public cynicism towards politics and reinforce the belief among voters that ideology is often sidelined after elections.
He maintained that the Tamil Nadu verdict was emphatic and said respecting both the spirit and substance of the mandate was important for the credibility of democratic politics.
