ISSF World Cup: India's rifle shooter Nischal on Monday displayed a terrific performance to clinch a Silver medal in Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions at the ISSF World Cup in Rio De Janeiro. The young Indian took the second prize in a star-studded final field in her maiden World Cup appearance. She finished with a score of 458.0, 3.5 behind the Gold medallist Jeanette Hegg Duestad on the final day of the tournament.
The 19-year-old Indian brought the second medal to India at the World Cup. She was up against some heavyweights like the 300m 3P World Champion Duestad, World Champion Wanru Miao, and 2018 Youth Olympic champion Stephanie Grundsoee, among others. Nischal had a brilliant outing in the qualification round as she went on to break the national record in the Women's 3P.
Here's how the final rolled out
In the 45-shot final, Nischal started strong and stood just 0.1 behind Norway's Duestad after the first 15 kneeling shots. Even after the next 15 shots, Nischal did not concede any ground as the gap between her and Norwegian remained the same. But when two shooters got knocked out, the gap widened to 0.7. After 41 shots, Duestad led the Indian with a gap of 1.1. She scored 10.2 in her final attempt to finish with a score of 461.5.
Nischal was happy with the way she performed. "It is my first World Cup final and I have a medal, so I am very happy for that,” the youngster said in a release. Notably, Nischal also shattered the national record in Women’s 3P. She was accompanied by fellow countrywomen Ayushi Podder and the previous national record holder Anjum Moudgil. Her score of 592 in the qualification round was one more than Moudgil's 591 which she set in the President’s Cup last year.
India ends with two medals at the ISSF World Cup
India finished seventh in the medal tally and ended the tournament with two medals. Nischal's Silver was the second medal that India won at the tournament. The first medal was a Gold, won by Elavenil Valarivan on Saturday in the 10m air rifle. She took the first prize with a score of 252.2 while France’s Oceanne Muller came second.
