Suchi, Vijayveer become the toast of the Indian shooters at the ISSF World Cup

It was a profitable day on Tuesday, 8 April, for the Indian shooters as teenager Suchi and Vijayveer Sidhu, a Paris Olympian, struck gold to propel India to the top of the medals tally in the ISSF World Cup in Buenos Aires.

While Sidhu won his and India’s first individual World Cup gold in the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol, Haryana girl Suchi surprised all with her effort in the women’s 10m air pistol.

Vijayveer shot 29 in a thrilling but low-scoring final to put one over experienced Italian Riccardo Mazzatti, who was left one short after the eighth series of five rapidfire shots each.

Chinese teenager Yang Yuhao won bronze.

India finished the day on top of the heap, with four golds, one silver and one bronze.

“I have played so many past finals with Gurpreet sir, Anish and others previously in the nationals, trials etc and have performed well. So I told myself that I had to do what I do there. Just do the same things, but more importantly, feel the same way.

“I just wanted to control what I can control and it worked. I am happy that this gold was a barrier and now it has been broken down, and this will help future Indian athletes also in this event,” he said after the final.

Beginning the day in seventh position in the overnight standings, Vijayveer shot 290 in the second rapidfire round of the qualifying shots to log a total of 579. That was enough to give him third place, with the talented Kazakh Nikita Chiryukin topping the standings with 582. 

Earlier in the day, Suchi — a national champion across all three individual categories — emerged as the new star as she shot 244.6 in the eight-woman final to leave decorated Chinese shooter Qian Wei a whole 2.7 behind.

Former Olympic champion and double Tokyo Olympics medalist Jiang Ranxin, a Chinese great, was demoted to bronze.

Suchi’s determination was well showcased when she held off a strong field to shoot 583 and top the qualifiers. There were seasoned competitors in the fray like Paris Olympics mixed team champion Zorana Arunovic of Serbia, Germany’s Doreen Vennekamp (reigning 25m world champion) and Hungary’s Veronika Major (Paris Olympics bronze medalist), as well as compatriot Manu Bhaker.

Manu falls short

Manu (574) fought back with a brilliant 100 in her third series, raising hopes; but it turned out to not be enough to cover for two below-par scores in the first two series (94 each). She finished 11^th  and failed to make the cut.

Sainyam, the third Indian contender, shot 572 to end 13^th.

In the final, Qian shot a 10.9 in her very first shot of the 24-shot final to sound the bugle early as Suruchi began with a 10.1. A couple of 9s and an 8.9 for her 10^th meant that despite some high 10s, the Indian was a touch outside podium places after 10 shots.

She found her range as eliminations began firing 10.7 and 10.8 for her 11^th and 12^th and going into the lead for the first time after the 13^th shot.

The Chinese trio tried to hunt her down but Suchi showed nerves of steel to not only fend them off but do so in style — finishing with 10.1, 10.7, 10.8 and a solid 10.0 to claim her first ISSF medal.