Munich World Cup: Suruchi toast of Indian squad as they finish third

Suruchi Singh Phogat, the teenage sensation of Indian shooting, continued to soar with three back-to-back gold medals in 10m air pistol as a young Indian team powered to a third-place finish in the ISSF World Cup (rifle/pistol) in Munich which concluded on Sunday. It was a dominating performance with two gold medals and as many bronze, but what underlined their depth of talent was the fact that they made seven finals out of 10 events.  

Ever since making her World Cup debut with a gold in Buenos Aires a few months back, the 19-year-old from Jhajjhar in Haryana followed it up with another yellow metal in Peru and now again at the iconic Olympic shooting range in Munich. An unprecedented feat by any Indian shooter before — man or woman — overshadowing some strong performances.  

Arya Rajesh Borse and Olympian Arjun Babuta teamed up to upstage Chinese world record holders Sheng Lihao and Wang Zifei 17-7, the former being also an Olympic champion in the event, for the second gold in the 10m air rifle mixed team final. Manu Bhaker, double Olympic medallist in Paris, could only finish sixth in 25 metres pistol after making the final.

Elavenil Valarivan (women’s 10m air rifle-arw), a two-time Olympian and Sift Kaur Samra (50m rifle 3 positions), Olympian and world record holder, also reinforced their status of one the world’s top shooters with their bronze finishes at Munich. Ela also set a new national record of 635.9 en route to her bronze while Suruchi equalled Bhaker’s qualifying national mark of 588 in the women’ s air pistol.

India made a total of seven finals in the 10 events in Munich with Bhaker (women’s 25m pistol), Varun Tomar (men’s 10m air pistol) and Chain Singh (men’s 3P), finishing sixth (both Manu and Varun) and seventh, respectively. China finished on top of the standings with seven medals, including four gold while Norway edged past India to second place on the basis of an additional silver along with the same number of gold and bronze as India.

“When many were saying that India will find it very tough given the large field, quality of competition and the fact that some of our best were not part of the squad, our athletes have proven that the depth in Indian shooting is more formidable than ever before. On behalf of the NRAI, I congratulate the entire squad including the coaches and support staff, for the amazing results, not only in Munich, but throughout the year,” remarked K. Sultan Singh, secretary-general, National Rifle Association of India (NRAI)

The ISSF bandwagon next moves to Lonato Del Garda in Italy next month for the year’s fourth Shotgun World Cup stage while the fourth and final Rifle/Pistol world cup is scheduled for Ningbo in China in September.