Shooters Ravi, Arjun falter at World Cup
Changwon (South Korea), April 22: India's Ravi Kumar and Arjun Babuta finished fourth and sixth respectively in the men's 10 metre Air Rifle event at the second International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup here on Sunday.
Both Ravi and Arjun had raised hopes of a medal, but missed out in the end. Ravi was competing in his fifth ISSF final in two years and youngster Arjun, playing his first senior World Cup, also gave a good account of himself.
Russia's Alexander Dryagin shot a world record 251.2 in the final to take the gold medal. Fellow Russian and Rio Olympics bronze medallist Vladimir Maslennikov took silver with a score of 250.2 after the 24-shot final.
World No.1 Istvan Peni of Hungary got the bronze with a score of 228.5. Peni had pipped Ravi by 0.2 points at the end of 20 shots. Ravi bowed out in fourth place after leading the finals initially with a score of 208.4.
Arjun, also leading the final at one stage, finished sixth eventually with a score of 165.2.
Earlier, in the 92-strong qualification round, Ravi shot a 629.2 after 60 shots to qualify second while Arjun shot 627.0 to capture the eighth and final qualifying spot.
Deepak Kumar, the third Indian in the fray, missed out, placing 15th after shooting a score of 625.9.
In the women's 10m Air Rifle, Apurvi Chandela shot 627 to finish 10th, the best among the three Indians in the fray.
She missed out on a final berth by a point. Mehuli Ghosh shot 626.0 to end in 17th place while Anjum Moudgil shot 625.5 to finish in 20th spot.
China's World Cup debutant Zhao Ruozhou won gold in the event with a world record score of 252.4. Chinese Taipei's Ying-Shin Lin took silver and Norway's Jenny Stene got the bronze.
Both Rahi Sarnobat and Heena Sidhu shot 291 out of 300 to finish the first qualification stage of the women's 25m Pistol in the 10th and 13th positions respectively in a 61-shooter strong field. Annu Raj Singh was lying 20th with a score of 288.
In the women's Trap, after the first day of qualification, Shreyasi Singh with 64 hits out of 75 was the best placed Indian at the 30th position.
Shagun Chowdhary had 63 to lie 36th while Seema Tomar shot 60 to be in 47th place. The top six qualify for the finals in both the events.
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Araijeet's four goals hand India 5th title in men's junior Asia Cup
Muscat, Dec 4: Araijeet Singh Hundal slammed four goals as defending champions India defeated arch-rivals Pakistan 5-3 in the summit clash to win a hat-trick of titles in the men's junior Asia Cup here on Wednesday.
This was India's fifth title in the continental tournament, having previously won the crown in 2004, 2008, 2015 and 2023.
The tournament was not held in 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Araijeet converted three penalty corners in the fourth, 18th and 54th minutes besides finding the net from a field effort in the 47th minute. Dilraj Singh (19th) was the other goal getter for India.
For Pakistan, Sufyan Khan (30th, 39th) converted two penalty corners, while Hannan Shahid scored from field play in the third minute.
Japan defeated Malaysia 2-1 to claim the third spot earlier in the day.
There was hardly anything to differentiate between the two sides as both India and Pakistan fought hard for ball possession in the first quarter.
The highlight of the first quarter was ariel passes employed by both the teams.
But Pakistan had the first laugh, striking as early as the third minute through a field goal from Shahid.
India didn't sit back and secured their first penalty corner seconds later, and Araijeet stepped up to draw level with a powerful drag-flick to the right of Pakistan goalkeeper.
India upped their game in the second quarter and secured their second penalty corner in the 18th minute and Araijeet struck again with another powerful flick.
A minute later, a fine field goal by Dilraj extended India's lead to 3-1.
Pakistan, however, reduced the margin in the 30th minute through a penalty corner conversion by Sufyan.
Pakistan were the better side on display after the change of ends and they drew level in the 39th minute through another penalty corner conversion by Sufyan.
India secured their third penalty corner in the 47th minute, but Araijeet's effort was saved by Pakistan goalkeeper Muhammad Janjua.
Araijeet, however, was not to be denied his hat-trick as he found the net from a field effort seconds later to hand India the lead again.
India pressed hard on the Pakistan citadel in the final 10 minutes and secured a few more penalty corners and Araijeet found the net again from a fine variation to make the scoreline 5-3.
