Munich: Paris Olympics medallist Manu Bhaker and senior pro Chain Singh made it to the finals of their respective events but could not nail a podium finish as India endured a medal-less day at the ISSF World Cup here Wednesday.
Double Olympic bronze-medallist shooter Bhaker finished sixth in 25m pistol after entering the eight-shooter final placed fifth with an aggregate ‘precision’ and ‘rapid fire’ score of 588.
Chain made it to final of the men’s 50m rifle 3-positions event on the back of a fine qualification round score but finished seventh in the eight-shooter medal round.
On the opening day of the competition on Tuesday, India won a bronze through Elavenil Valarivan in women’s 10m air rifle event.
Bhaker shot 290 in precision and a superb 298 in the rapid fire round to aggregate 588 going into the finals.
The medal round, didn’t go as expected, as the winner of the Olympics bronze medals in women’s and mixed team 10m air pistol events was out gunned by the Chinese and Korean shooters.
China’s Sun Yujie took the gold with a score of 38, while Korea’s Oh Yejin and Yang Jiin bagged the silver and bronze notching up 36 and 32 points respectively. Bhaker couldn’t go beyond the third elimination round to finish with 20 points.
Multiple Asian Games medallist Esha Singh finished 11th with a combined ‘precision’ and ‘rapid fire’ score of 585 and could not make it to the eight-shooter final.
The other Indian in the fray Simranpreet Kaur Brar tallied 577 to finish 32nd.
India’s Chain Singh made it to final of the men’s 50m rifle 3-positions event on the back of a fine qualification round score but finished seventh in the eight-shooter medal round.
Chain, an Asian Games medallist who had recently won a bronze in the ISSF World Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina, qualified for the final in sixth place with an aggregate of 592.
The other Indians in the event, Paris Olympics bronze medallist Swapnil Kusale and Ankush Jadhav shot 587 and 580 to finish 38th and 67th respectively.
Chain shot 198 in ‘kneeling’ position and a superb 199 in ‘prone’ but a below-par 195 in ‘standing’ saw him aggregate 592 and enter the final placed sixth.
The high-quality finals saw Chain becoming the second competitor to get eliminated and ending up seventh, while Norway’s Jon-Hermann Hegg won the gold with a score of 464.1.
Individaul Neutral Athlete Ilia Marsov took the silver with a score of 462, while the Czech Republic’s Jiri Privratsky (452) clinched the bronze.
On Thursday, Olympians Arjun Babuta and Sandeep Singh will be up against Paris Games gold medallist Sheng Lihao when the men’s 10m air pistol event begins.
Babuta has made it to four consecutive finals since the Paris Olympics last year where he finished fourth, and the Indian’s rivalry against Sheng will be keenly followed.
The Chinese started the 2025 season with a gold at the Lima World Cup, where Babuta finished just 0.1 point behind to settle for silver.
Sandeep Singh, who won the 10m air pistol mixed team bronze with Bhaker at the Paris Games, has also made his way back into the team.
In women’s 50m rifle 3-Position, all three Indians are in good form, with Sift Kaur Samra winning gold in the World Cup in Argentina, while Shriyanka Sadangi made it to the finals in the World Cup in Lima. The third Indian, Ashi Chouksey, too shot well in Lima but missed the cut by a close margin.
