Indian Rifle Shooter Nischal Bags Silver In Rio World Cup

Young Indian shooter Nischal has won silver in the Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions at the ISSF World Cup in Rio De Janeiro. She on Monday gave India its second medal on the concluding day of the tournament. Her achievement becomes even more credible given that this was her very first senior World Cup appearance. She finished behind Norwegian rifle ace Jeanette Hegg Duestad with a score of 458.0 in the final. Duestad is the reigning Air Rifle European Champion and 300m 3P World Champion and has 12 ISSF World Cup medals to her name including five gold. She was also fourth in Tokyo Olympics.

Nischal was in supreme shooting form throughout the day, breaking the qualification national record in Women's 3P in the process.

"It is my first world cup final and I have a medal, so I am very happy for that,” the teenager said in a release.

It all began with the elimination rounds in the morning where a total of 18 shooters were eliminated over two rounds totalling 73 competitors.

She shot a solid 587 in relay one to safely make it to qualification. So did her two countrywomen, previous qualification national record holder Anjum Moudgil and Ayushi Podder, both of whom shot in relay two.

Then in qualification, Nischal shot a sublime 592 including a perfect 200 in the prone position, to erase Anjum's score of 591 shot in the President's Cup in Cairo last year. Anjum herself shot a solid 586, but finished 10th to miss the final by a point. Ayushi was further back in 35th with 580.

The final had a stellar field. Besides Duestad, there was qualification topper (594) and world champion Wanru Miao of China, 2018 Youth Olympic champion Stephanie Grundsoee of Denmark, Italian Olympian Sofia Ceccarello and senior Polish shooter Aneta