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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World “being ravaged by handful of tyrants,” says Pope Leo days after spat with Trump
Vatican City: Pope Leo XIV has criticised global leaders stating that the world is “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants” during his visit to Cameroon, BBC reported.
His remarks came amid an ongoing spat with Donald Trump following a recent exchange of criticism.
During his visit to a region in the central African country affected by insurgency, the Pope spoke against leaders who, according to him, misuse religion for personal or political purposes.
He also criticised the large spending on wars, saying leaders “turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education and restoration are nowhere to be found”.
He further said, “the masters of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy, yet often a lifetime is not enough to rebuild.”
Speaking in the north-western city of Bamenda, which has been affected by violence for nearly a decade, the Pope described the situation as “an endless cycle of destabilisation and death” in a “bloodstained” region.
Addressing people gathered at a cathedral, he said, “those who rob your land of its resources generally invest much of the profit in weapons, thus perpetuating an endless cycle of destabilisation and death.”
He also spoke about the need for peace, stating, “peace is not something we must invent: it is something we must embrace by accepting our neighbour as a brother and as our sister.”
The comments come days after a public disagreement between the Pope and Donald Trump. The Pope had earlier expressed concern over Trump’s warning that “a whole civilisation will die” if Iran did not accept US demands related to the war and the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump responded by criticising the Pope on social media, writing, “Leo should get his act together as Pope.”
In another post, he described the Pope as “weak on Crime and terrible for Foreign Policy,” while also sharing content portraying himself in a religious context. The now deleted post included Trump depicting himself as a Jesus-like figure. The post trigerred backlash.
He later continued his criticism and did not apologise.
Responding to questions about Trump’s remarks during his visit, the Pope said he had “no fear” of the US administration and would continue to speak against war. He also said earlier that he did not want to engage in a direct debate with Trump but would continue promoting peace.
The differences between the Pope and the US administration have also been visible in their positions on the conflict involving Iran, Israel and the United States.
During a Palm Sunday Mass at St Peter's Square, the Pope described the conflict as “atrocious” and said, “this is our God: Jesus, king of peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war.”
He added, “he does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” He also quoted a passage from the Bible, saying, “even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.”
The Pope’s Africa tour includes visits to multiple cities across four countries and is his second major international trip since becoming Pope last year.
