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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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
