Indian shooter Jitu Rai shot his way to a bronze medal in the men’s 10-metre air pistol event at the ongoing ISSFShooting World Cup in South Korea on Sunday.
An Asian and Commonwealth Games gold-medallist, Jitu aggregated a total of 181.1 points to finish third on the podium, missing out on the gold medal shoot-out by 0.4 points. Jin Jongoh of Korea won the yellow metal with a score of 206.0, beating Naung Ye Tun of Myanmar (201.0) in the gold medal shoot-out.
This is Jitu’s seventh medal in international events, following a run that started last June. Jitu’s compatriots in the 10m air pistol, Prakash Nanjappa and Gurpreet Singh finished 18th and 48th, respectively in the qualification round.
Chain Singh did well to qualify for the eight-man final in the 50m rifle prone event ahead of established stars like Gagan Narang and finished sixth in the finals.
Chain had shot 623.4 to qualify for the finals in seventh position. In the women’s 50m rifle 3 position, Elizabeth Susan Koshy shot 580 in her elimination round to finish fourth, while Lajja Gauswami and Anjali Bhagwat in their respective elimination rounds finished fifth and eighth, respectively with scores of 568 and 567.
At one stage it looked all lost for Jitu, but he overcame a sluggish start in the qualification round, where shooters have to shoot a total of 60 shots, to just about make it to the final round in 8th position with a score of 581.
In the eight-man final as well, Jitu started off slowly, unable to score 10 or more with his shots with any form of regularity, before coming into his own midway through the finals to clinch the bronze.
Jitu’s Korean rival and world number one Jin Jongoh was, meanwhile, shooting on a different planet and won the top prize with a finals world record score of 206.
“We are delighted to see another bronze coming our way through Jitu’s performance today. The phenomenon of Jitu Rai has surfaced again, adding to his rich haul of medals since last year,” said National Rifle Association of India’s president Raninder Singh.
He added: “This only showcases the class that this young Army Marksman possesses and what strength he adds to the Indian contingent. I would also like to thank the Armed Forces for their continuous efforts towards providing top class shooters without fail.”