Swapnil-Ashi pair wins gold; India finishes second in Shooting WC

NEW DELHI: Swapnil Kusale and Ashi Chouksey drew curtains on India’s campaign at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, with a gold medal in the 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) mixed team event here on Saturday.

Swapnil and Ashi beat the Ukrainian combination of Serhiy Kulish and Daria Tykhova 16-12 in the gold-medal match. It was India’s second gold at the WC after the trio of Elavenil Valarivan, Shreya Agarwal and Ramita clinched the yellow metal in the 10m air rifle women’s team event. Besides two gold, the India shooters bagged three silver medals as the team finished second in the table behind Korea.

It was also Swapnil’s first gold and third medal overall at the Baku WC. He had earlier won silver medals in both the men’s 3P individual and men’s team competitions. In the first qualification stage played earlier on Saturday, Swapnil and Ashi finished fourth with a combined score of 881 out of 900 to qualify for stage two among 31 teams.

In stage two, the Indian duo came second with an effort of 583 out of 600. It was the same score as that of the Ukrainians but the Indians topped on countback. In the final, Ukraine started stronger and opened up a 6-2 lead after the first four single-shot series. But, India fought back admirably, winning six of the next eight series to go 14-10 ahead.

The Serhiy-Daria duo did not give up and narrowed the deficit to 12-14 before Swapnil and Ashi clinched the well-deserved victory.

India clinched five medals (2 gold and 3 silver) to finish behind Korea in the table Swapnil Kusale and Ashi Chouksey drew curtains on India’s campaign at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, with a gold medal in the 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) mixed team event here on Saturday.

Swapnil and Ashi beat the Ukrainian combination of Serhiy Kulish and Daria Tykhova 16-12 in the gold-medal match. It was India’s second gold at the WC after the trio of Elavenil Valarivan, Shreya Agarwal and Ramita clinched the yellow metal in the 10m air rifle women’s team event. Besides

two gold, the India shooters bagged three silver medals as the team finished second in the table behind Korea.

It was also Swapnil’s first gold and third medal overall at the Baku WC. He had earlier won silver medals in both the men’s 3P individual and men’s team competitions. In the first qualification stage played earlier on Saturday, Swapnil and

Ashi finished fourth with a combined score of 881 out of 900 to qualify for stage two among 31 teams.

In stage two, the Indian duo came second with an effort of 583 out of 600. It was the same score as that of the Ukrainians but the Indians topped on countback. In the final, Ukraine started stronger and opened up a 6-2 lead after the first four single-shot series. But, India fought back admirably, winning six of the next eight series to go 14-10 ahead.

The Serhiy-Daria duo did not give up and narrowed the deficit to 12-14 before Swapnil and Ashi clinched the well-deserved victory.

India clinched five medals (2 gold and 3 silver) to finish behind Korea in the table

Are you in Chennai? Then click here to get our newspaper at your doorstep!