SHOOTING: Strong showing for India in Rifle/Pistol World Cup in China

The amazing Maria Grozdeva (BUL), 46, winner of the 25 m Pistol event in Beijing (Photo: ISSF)

The continuing quest for Olympic quota places earned headlines in India as it scored a tournament-high three gold medals in the latest ISSF World Cup for rifle and pistol in Beijing (CHN).

Abhisek Verma won the men’s 10 m Air Pistol for his first-ever World Cup victory (and World Cup medal), and Indian teams with both of the Mixed events, in 10 m Air Pistol and 10 m Air Rifle.

China won two individual golds, in the men’s 25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol (Junmin Lin) and the 10m Air Rifle (Zicheng Hui).

One of the highlights of the week came on the final day as Bulgaria’s Maria Grozdeva, 46, won the 25 m Pistol competition to secure an Olympic quota place and to claim her 18th career World Cup victory, and 15th with the Sport Pistol. She won her first back in 1993, and also has victories in two World Cup finals to go along with Olympic golds in Sport Pistol in 2000-04 (and three other Olympic medals from 1992-04). She’s not done yet!

Along the same lines, 50-year-old Nino Salukvadze (GEO) likely assured herself a place in Tokyo for the 2020 Games after a fifth-place finish in the women’s 10 m Air Pistol event. As the others in front of her in the event had already won quota places, her finish may allow her (if selected) to compete in an amazing ninth Olympic Games, beginning with the 1988 Seoul Games. Wow! Summaries:

ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup
Beijing (CHN) ~ 21-29 April 2019
(Full results here)

Men

10 m Air Pistol: 1. Abhisek Verma (IND), 242.7; 2. Artem Chernousov (RUS), 240.4; 3. Seungwoo Han (KOR), 220.0.

25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol: 1. Junmin Lin (CHN), 35; 2. Oliver Geis (GER), 31; 3. Jean Quiquampoix (FRA), 27.

10 m Air Rifle: 1. Zicheng Hui (CHN), 249.4; 2. Divyansh Panwar (IND), 249.0; 3. Grigorii Shamakov (RUS), 227.5.

50 m Rifle/3 Positions: 1. Filip Nepejchal (CZE), 458.7; 2. Sergey Kamenskiy (RUS), 458.1; 3. Zhonghao Zhao (CHN), 445.1.

Women

10 m Air Pistol: 1. Min-Jung Kim (KOR), 245.0; 2. Vitalina Batsarashkina (RUS), 240.6; 3. Veronika Major (HUN), 220.5.

25 m Pistol: 1. Maria Grozdeva (BUL), 36; 2. Veronika Major (HUN), 35; 3. Anna Korikaki (GRE), 30.

10 m Air Rifle: 1. Yulia Karimova (RUS), 251.1; 2. Eunji Kwon (KOR), 250.2; 3. Ji-Hyeon Keum (KOR), 228.0.

50 m Rifle/3 Positions: 1. Snjezana Pejcic (CRO), 464.0; 2. Sang Hee Bae (KOR), 459.5; 3. Jeanette Hegg Duestad (NOR), 447.1.

Mixed

10 m Air Pistol/ Final: 1. Manu Bhaker/Chaudhary Saurabh (IND), 16; 2. Ranxin Jiang/Wie Pang (CHN), 6. Bronze: 3. Vitalina Batsarashkina/Artem Chernousov (RUS), 16; 4. Wei Qian/Meng Yi Wang (CHN), 4.

10 m Air Rifle/ Final: 1. Anjjm Moudgil/Divyansh Panwar (IND), 17; 2. Ruxuan Liu/Haoran Yang (CHN), 15. Bronze: 3. Yulia Karimova/Grigorii Shamakov (RUS), 16; 4. Alison Weisz/Tim Sherry (USA), 2.