India lead medal tally as Prachi Gaikwad clinches 3P rifle gold
Cairo: India's Prachi Gaikwad struck gold in the women's 50m rifle 3-positions, while Naraen Pranav chipped in with a bronze in the men's 10m air rifle, as the country continued to dominate the medal standings at the ISSF Junior World Cup (Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun) here on Thursday.
This was India's second gold of the competition, following Shiva Narwal's triumph in the men's 10m air pistol on the opening day, taking the country's overall tally to nine medals — including four silvers and three bronzes.
Prachi fired 354.6 in the final to edge past Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) Darya Chuprys, who shot 354.4, while another AIN shooter, Elena Kretinina, claimed bronze with a score of 343.3.
Naraen, meanwhile, secured the bronze in his event with a final score of 229.5.
Prachi was the lone Indian to make the 3P final, qualifying sixth with a score of 578, and began the medal round in fifth place after the first 10 shots in the 'kneeling' position.
She surged to second after a strong 'prone' round, closing to within 0.6 points of leader Darya at that stage.
The Indian then moved into the lead for the first time with a 50-plus effort in the opening five shots of the 'standing' position, but Darya responded with a 51.0 in the next series.
Prachi, meanwhile, slipped momentarily to third after missing the 10-ring four times, setting up a tense finish with five shots remaining.
The minor setback did little to shake Prachi, who rose to the occasion when it mattered most, striking the 10-ring four times — including two high 10s — to snatch gold from Darya by a slender margin of 0.2 points.
In the junior men's 10m air rifle, three Indians made the cut with Naraen best placed at third scoring 630.9.
Abhinav Shaw was fourth with 630.0 while Divyanshu Dewangan took the seventh qualifying spot with on a score of 626.8.
In the final, Divyanshu was the first to be eliminated in eighth place with his score reading 122.4 after 12 shots of the 24-shot final.
Abhinav and Naraen were in the fight for third place at that point with Uzbek Javohir Sokhibov and Cypriot Achilleas Sophocleous in first and second respectively.
Naraen then fired a 10.7 followed by a perfect 10.9, to challenge Sophocleous for silver as Abhinav faded away. Sokhibov seemed out of reach.
Abhinav had 0.6 to make up on Naraen going into the 20th shot, but a 9.9 put paid to his hopes, as Naraen clinched bronze, falling short of the Greek by 0.4 after the 22nd shot.
Sokhibov romped to gold finishing with 251.2, a whole point ahead of Sophocleous.
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