New Delhi, May 28 (IANS) Sakshi Sunil Padekar finished seventh in the 10m Air Rifle women’s final on Day Three of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol at the iconic Olympiaschießanlage in Munich, Germany.

The 22-year-old from Maharashtra qualified for the final in third place after shooting a very high 635.1, only behind World No. 1 Wang Zifei of China and Paris Olympics champion Hyojin Ban of South Korea.

The 18-year-old Andelija Stevanovic of Serbia, also in her debut senior World Cup, clinched the gold with a total score of 252.3 in a final that was decided in the final shot. Japan’s Nobata Misaki also secured her first-ever senior World Cup medal, securing the silver with a score of 252.0. Wang Zifei won bronze after shooting 231.1, while Olympic champion Ban finished in fourth.

Sakshi responded well with a 10.8 and 10.7 after hitting a 9.7 and 9.8 in the second and third shots, respectively, after starting the final with a 10.5 to end the first series with 51.5 to take the sixth spot. In the second series, she shot 10.6, 10.4, 10.6, 10.0, and 10.5 for a total of 52.1, which maintained her spot in sixth.

In the first of the single shots, Sakshi hit two shots of 10.3 to maintain her spot in sixth position, and she followed it up with two 10.5 shots in the 13th shot to take a lead of 0.4 above Oceanne Mueller, who was in seventh position. The French shooter hit a massive 10.9 in the 14th shot to force a shoot-off with the Indian, who hit a 10.5 in her 14th shot.

In the shoot-off, Sakshi could manage only 10.5 after Mueller hit a 10.7 to finish in seventh place with a final score of 145.2. Mueller survived one more elimination to finish in fifth.

Earlier, two other Indians, Elavenil Valarivan, finished in 19th spot with a score of 632.1, while Arya Borse finished in 63rd spot with a score of 627.6 in a highly competitive field of 146 shooters, where the top 12 shooters finished with a score of 633.0 or more, underlining the high level of competition in the event.

Vidarsa K. Vinod (630.6) and Tilottama Sen (630.1), competing for ranking points, finished in 27th and 32nd places, respectively. Anish Bhanwala is the best-placed Indian after Stage 1 of the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol.

Olympian Anish Bhanwala ended Stage 1 of the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol with a score of 290-10x, in 18th place and keeping his hopes of a top eight spot tomorrow alive. Suraj Sharma, also making his debut in the senior level, shot 284-11x (97,87,100), and Udhayveer Sidhu (288-14x), also making his senior debut in an Olympic event, will have their work cut out to make a place in tomorrow’s finals.

Three finals in the 10m Air Pistol Women, 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men, and 25m Rapid Fire Pistol will be held tomorrow, the penultimate day of competitions in Munich.

–IANS

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