New Delhi: Hosts India finished seventh overall with one gold, one silver and a bronze, while Italy pipped China at the top in the medals tally, as the ISSF World Cup Final came to a close here on Sunday.
India won through Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu (gold, mixed team 10m air pistol), Sangram Dahiya (silver, men’s double trap) and Amanpreet Singh (bronze, men’s 50m pistol). This was India’s best ever result in the annual shooting centrepiece.
In the ISSF Champion of Champions event, where all medal winners in the rifle and pistol events could compete for a purse of 5,000 euros each, China’s Rio 2016 10m air pistol women’s champion, Mengxue Zhang and Gengcheng Sui, were crowned Champion of Champions in pistol and rifle respectively.
On the concluding day’s final event, the men’s trap, Spain’s Alberto Fernandez, six-time World Cup gold medallist, clinched gold with a world record score of 48 out of 50 in the final. Italy’s reigning world champion Daniele Resca took silver with an effort of 46 and his medal was crucial as it helped Italy beat China in the medals table. Daniele’s silver meant Italy finished with two gold, three silver and one bronze, while China ended with two gold, two silver and five bronze medals.
France’s Rio Olympics bronze medallist Alexis Raynaud won gold in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions event, getting the better of 18- year old Czech Filip Nepejchal 461.7 to 458.5 in the final. The 20-year-old Hungarian Istvan Peni took the bronze (449.1) to round off a good trip with a total of one gold (10m air rifle) and one bronze medal.
