Mittal takes silver; mixed team gold for Jitu, Heena

New Delhi: Ankur Mittal settled for the silver medal in a marathon double trap final after Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu claimed the top prize in the 10m air pistol mixed event at the ISSF World Cup at the Karni Singh shooting ranges on Monday.

Mittal, 24, finished second after he tallied 74, one behind gold medal winner James Willett of Australia. Great Britain’s James Dedman was third with 56.

Team-mate Sangram Dahiya also featured in the top six but could manage only 24 points in the final. As per the new rules, the 50-shots double trap event has been stretched to a staggering 80 shots where elimination starts after the 30th shot in the six-man final.

Four mixed gender team events are being tested out for the first time in the World Cup with medals won not being counted in the standings. Jitu and Heena beat the Japanese duo of Tomayuki Matsuda and Konishi Yukari 5-3 in the final. The bronze went to Slovenia.

Earlier, eight out of the 25 participating teams including two teams from each country in many cases, made it through to the final from the qualifying stage.

Jitu and Heena shot a combined score of 475 to qualify in seventh position.

In the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions, China’s Zhang Yiwen clinched the top spot with 455.7 ahead of Singapore’s Jasmine Xer (453.8) and Germany’s Eva Roesken (443.6). India’s Tejaswini Sawant, who also qualified for the eight-woman final, finished seventh with 402.4.

Day Five also has two medal events lined up in the men’s 10m air pistol and men’s 50m rifle prone disciplines. While former Olympic bronze medallist Gagan Narang will lead India’s challenge in the rifle prone, the country’s hopes in the pistol event will rest on Rai.