For long now, Jitu Rai has been carrying the ‘shooting’ hopes of the nation in the world circuit. But earlier today, he received a huge setback, as he was unable to qualify for the 10m Air Pistol finals at the ISSF World Cup, being held at the Olympic Shooting Range in Munich, Germany.
Jitu finished 10 in the qualifying round, missing out on a finals berth by two spots. He finished with 581 points. Jitu was always in the fore to make it to the finals but messed it up in 57th and 58th shot(scoring 9’s in both attempts). The most surprising thing about his showing being that he scored his second best score than he ever has to win a medal at a World Cup.
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The other Indian shooters in the event, Prakash Nanjappa and Anmol Jain finished 34th and 36th respectively with an identical score of 576.
In the Women’s Rifle 3 positions event too, India lost out by a whisker, as Tejaswini Rajput could manage an overall score of just 584, despite scoring 199 out of 200 in the prone position.
N Gaayathri finished 38th with a score of 579 while Elizabeth Susan Koshy shot 576 to end in 55th place.
The finals would feature only two Indians, both of whom will feature in two different events. Three time Olympian, Sanjeev Rajput will feature in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions final, whereas former World Number 1, Heena Sindhu, would be featuring in the women’s 10 m air pistol event.
