Bajwa, Ganemat shoot mixed skeet gold, India's medal tally 15

Skeet mixed team comprising Angad Bajwa and Ganemat Sekhon won India's seventh gold medal of the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup on Tuesday when they beat Kazakhstan's Alexandr Yechshenko and Olga Panarina 33-29 in the final here.

This was India's fifth medal from the skeet competitions alone and the hosts continue to top the medals tally with a total of 15 medals, which includes four silver and four bronze medals.

In the only final scheduled on Day Five of the competition, being held in rifle, pistol, and shotgun events at Dr. Karni Singh Shooting ranges, Bajwa and Ganemat first topped the six-team qualification round with a combined total of 141 out of 150 shots, to make it to the gold medal match. The Kazakhs were a point behind with 140. 

The second Indian pair Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Parinaaz Dhaliwal made it to the bronze medal match where they eventually lost narrowly to the Qatari pair of Reem Al Sharshani and Rashid Hamad, 31-32.

In the other events of the day, Sanjeev Rajput of India qualified for the finals of the men's 50m rifle 3 positions event with a quality score of 1172 to top the charts. In fact, all three Indians made it to the final, scheduled for Wednesday morning. 

Fellow Tokyo Olympic Games quota holder Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar shot 1165 to finish fifth while Niraj Kumar bagged the eighth and final qualifying spot, pipping air rifle legend Peter Sidi of Hungary when he too finished with 1165. Sidi was ninth with 1164.

In the women's 25m pistol event, in which the first precision round was held, all three Indians were on top of the leaderboard. Indian No.1 Rahi Sarnobat was perched at the summit with a score of 291 while Chinky Yadav was lying second with 289. Manu Bhaker was third with a score of 288. Wednesday has the rapid fire round scheduled before the top eight make it to the final, which is also scheduled on the same day.

On Wednesday, three big finals are scheduled. Besides, the men's 50m rifle 3 positions and the women's 25m pistol, the women's 50m rifle 3 positions final is also slated for the day.

A total of 12 nations have won medals in the tournament so far. While India lead the field, the USA are second with two gold and four medals while Kazakhstan are third with four medals, including a solitary gold.