India tops medal tally at Beijing Shooting World Cup
Beijing: India drew blank on the final day but still topped the chart for the second consecutive ISSF World Cup, third time in two years, by bagging three gold and a silver at the Beijing edition of the Rifle/Pistol event here.
India topped the medals tally ahead of hosts China (2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze), who won five medals in total. In the last edition in New Delhi, India had jointly topped the standings with Hungary.
For India, while Anjum Moudgil and young Divyansh Singh Panwar started the medal hunt with a gold in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team competition, the teenaged pair of Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary backed them up with another yellow metal in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Pistol event.
Divyansh then won India's first individual medal by clinching a silver in the men's 10m Air Rifle. On Saturday, Abhishek Verma won India's third gold in men's 10m Air Pistol event.
The concluding day of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol Beijing 2019 edition however, belonged to two women legends of the sport, two-time former Olympic champion Maria Grozdeva of Bulgaria and Croatian Rifle legend Snjezana Pejcic, who won the two scheduled finals of the day, the 25m Pistol and the 50m Rifle 3 Positions (3P).
In the first final on Sunday, the 46-year old Maria, champion in the 25m Pistol at the Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2004 Olympics, shot 36 in the final to beat a couple of young rising stars -- world number one Anna Korakaki of Greece and Veronika Major of Hungary, who was fresh from a double gold in the New Delhi World Cup.
The Hungarian settled for silver while Anna was pushed to the bronze medal position.
Maria along with Monika Karsch of Germany, who finished fourth, bagged the two Tokyo 2020 quota places up for grabs in the event.
Indian interest in the event was limited to the qualifying stage of the competition where Manu Bhaker's finals hopes were dashed when she shot 586 in qualifying to finish 17th.
Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat managed 579 for a 26th place finish while Chinki Yadav, the third Indian in the competition, shot 570 to end in 56th position.
In the women's 3P, Beijing Olympics bronze medallist and winner of 17 World Cup medals including eight golds, Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia triumphed with a final round score of 464.
Bae Sang Hee of Korea won silver with 459.5 while Jeanette Hegg Duestad of Norway won bronze with 447.1. The Korean and the Norweigian also walked away with the two quota places.
Among the three Indians in the fray, N Gaayathri finished 19th with a score of 1169 in qualification while Sunidhi Chauhan shot 1160 to end in 42nd. Kajal Saini was placed 60th with a qualification round score of 1142.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Gurugram Court issues arrest warrants against TV anchors Chitra Tripathi, Syed Suhail in POCSO case
Gurugram: A special court in Gurugram, Haryana, has issued non-bailable arrest warrants against TV news anchors Chitra Tripathi (ABP News) and Syed Suhail (Republic Bharat) in connection with a 2013 POCSO case.
The Additional District and Sessions Judge, Ashwani Kumar Mehta, passed the order after cancelling their bail and rejecting their requests for exemption from personal appearance in court. The court directed the SHO concerned to execute the warrants by November 30 and to appear in person if the warrants remain unexecuted.
Tripathi sought exemption, citing travel to Nasik for covering the Maharashtra elections, while Suhail sought relief on the grounds of travelling to Kanpur for by-election coverage. The court dismissed their applications, observing that both anchors had been taking the legal process lightly.
The case pertains to charges against eight journalists, including Tripathi, Suhail, and others, for allegedly airing "morphed, edited, and obscene" videos of a 10-year-old girl and her family linked to a sexual assault case involving self-styled godman Asaram Bapu. The journalists are accused of criminal conspiracy, forgery, and violating provisions under the POCSO Act and the IT Act.
Charges have been framed under IPC s.120B (criminal conspiracy), s.469 and s.471 (forgery), IT Act s.67B (abusing children online), s.67 (publishing or transmitting sexually explicit content), and POCSO Act s.23 (disclosure of identity of a child by media) and s.13C (indecent or obscene representation of a child).
The court emphasised the need for expeditious proceedings, as the case has already been delayed by nine years. The journalists face allegations of conspiring to forge and broadcast indecent content, thereby harming the reputation of the victim and her family.
