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Indian shooters Divya Subbaraju Thadigol and Sarabjot Singh claimed a gold medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event at the ISSF World Cup 2023 for rifle and pistol shooters in Baku, Azerbaijan on Thursday.
Sarabjot and Divya TS defeated veteran Serbian pair of Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Damir Mikec and former world champion Zorana Arunovic 16-14 in a tense final. It was the first-ever ISSF World Cup medal for Divya TS. Earlier, Sarabjot scored 293 across three series in the qualification round while Divya TS managed to score 288 for a total score of 581. Damir Mikec and Zorana Arunovic also ended up getting the same score but finished second due to fewer 10s (19) compared to Sarabjot Singh and Divya TS (24). India's Varun Tomar and Esha Singh struck a combined score of 578 to finish sixth and failed to qualify for the medal round. A total of 55 pairs competed in the qualification round. The top four go into the medal rounds. Earlier, India's Rhythm Sangwan took bronze in the women's 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup 2023 for rifle and pistol shooters. Sangwan finished third in the final with a score of 219.1, behind Olympic champion Anna Korakaki of Greece and gold medalist Olena Kostevych of Ukraine from the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. It was Rhythm Sangwan's first individual senior medal at the World Cup of Shooting. The other Indian in the final, Esha Singh, finished sixth with a score of 154.8, as per Olympics.com. Rhythm Sangwan, 19, finished third in the qualification round with a score of 581 and advanced to the final. Esha Singh made it to the eight-woman 24-shot final after finishing eighth with 579. Meanwhile, Manu Bhaker, India's top shooter contesting for ranking points, finished 40th in the 60-shot qualification stage with a score of 570. Divya TS did not get past the qualification round, finishing 18th with a score of 575. Sarabjot Singh of India won the qualification stage in the men's 10m air pistol event with 589, however, he finished fourth in the final with 198.9. Sarabjot Singh won the gold medal at the ISSF World Cup in Bhopal in March. Arjun Singh Cheema finished 12th in the men's 10m air pistol category, while Shiv Narwal, Ujjawal Malik, and Varun Tomar finished 17th, 41st, and 52nd, respectively. For the shooting World Cup in Baku, the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) has adopted the Tokyo 2020 Olympics format. The semi-final stage has been removed from the current tournament. The competition only has one round of qualification, from which the top eight go to the final. The Baku meet is the penultimate stage of the ISSF World Cup for rifle and pistol shooters. The final stage will be place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, prior to the ISSF World Championships in Doha, Qatar, in November. India has fielded a 34-man team for the ISSF World Cup Baku 2023. The event will conclude on May 14th. (ANI)
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