NEW DELHI: India finished their shooting World Cup campaign with a golden finish in the trap team events on the concluding day of competitions on Sunday as the hosts recorded their most successful outing in a single edition of the WC stage by cornering 30 medals, including 15 gold.
India has been ruling the medals chart at the shooting World Cups since the New Delhi edition in February 2019 and this was the country’s sixth successive No. 1 finish at the ISSF championships in the rifle/pistol events – New Delhi, Beijing, Munich, Rio de Janeiro (World Cups), Putian, China (World Cup Final) in 2019 and at the combined WC stage here in 2021.
However, it’s also a fact that India’s overall tally in this edition was largely swelled by the host shooters’ medal-winning performances in nonOlympic competitions in the team and mixed-gender events.
Overall, India’s medal count stood at 15 gold, nine silver and six bronze. USA and Italy finished miles behind, with a total of eight and four medals, respectively.
On Sunday, Shreyasi Singh, Manisha Keer and Rajeshwari Kumari combined to shoot India’s first gold of the day when they defeated Kazakhstan 6-0 in the final of the women’s trap team competition. They won the first series of five-shot each 12-11, the second 11-8 and the third by a margin of 12-9 to outclass the Kazakhs.
Later, the trio of Kynan Chenai, Prithviraj Tondaiman and Lakshay Sheoran beat the Slovakians 6-4 in a hard-fought final to clinch the second gold of the day in the men’s trap team.
Earlier, India had won a silver with the trio of Gurpreet Singh, Vijayveer Sidhu and Adarsh Singh going down 2-10 against the Team USA in the final of the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol team event.
Speaking about the country’s campaign in the trap shooting and her own individual performance, Gold Coast CWG gold winner Shreyasi, who is also an MLA from Bihar’s Jamui district, told TOI: “I think because of my hectic schedule (juggling between campaigning for Bihar elections and preparing for the WC), my training definitely took a toll. I have also been slightly unlucky when it came to the mixed team event final (with Kynan Chenai). I felt we were a bit unlucky finishing fourth. But I believe the trap team is still very young and we are growing together. Shotgun has suffered because of lack of foreign coach and technical support staff for a very long time. I am looking forward to the CWG and Asian Games next year. It’s my dream to win an Asiad gold in trap for the country.”