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Hriday Hazarika and Nancy, two young Indian shooters, won silver medals on Friday in the men's and women's 10m air rifle competitions at the ongoing ISSF World Cup 2023 for rifle and pistol shooters in Baku, Azerbaijan on Friday.
For Hriday Hazarika, 21, and Nancy, 19, it was their first-ever ISSF World Cup medal, as per Olympics.com. Hriday Hazarika won the individual gold medal at the 2018 Junior World Championships in Changwon. He also won the gold medal at the 2018 Junior ISSF World Cup in Suhl and the bronze medal at the 2019 Junior ISSF World Cup in Suhl. In the meantime, Nancy competed for the women's rifle team in Cairo in the 2022 Junior World Championships, where they took first place and won gold. At the same contest, she took home a bronze medal for the mixed team. Zalan Pekler of Hungary, the winner of the Youth Olympic mixed team competition with a score of 252.4, was narrowly ahead of Hriday Hazarika, who improved his performance in the final to score 251.9. Sheng Lihao of China, who placed second in Tokyo 2020, took home bronze with a score of 230.5. With scores of 628.8 and 628.1, respectively, the current world champion Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil and Tushar Shahu Mane placed 23rd and 28th. Later on in the day, Nancy, who placed eighth in the qualification round with a score of 631.6, just about made it to the final of the women's 10m air rifle event. In the final, she too hit her stride and earned a silver medal with a score of 253.3. Jiayu Han, a young Chinese shooter, took home the gold medal with a score of 254, while Yuting Huang, a two-time world championship gold medalist, came in third with 232.5. Elavenil Valarivan (628.2), Ramita (631.4), Tilottama Sen (629.6), and Narmada Nithin (627.4) were unable to advance to the eight-woman final. India now has four medals overall in the ISSF World Cup thanks to the two victories on Friday. On Thursday, Sarabjot Singh and Divya TS won a gold medal in the mixed team 10m air pistol competition, and 19-year-old Rhythm Sangwan took home the bronze in the women's 10m air pistol competition. The Baku meet is the penultimate stage of the ISSF World Cup for rifle and pistol shooters. Before the ISSF World Championships in Doha, Qatar, in November, the final stage will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A 34-person Indian squad will compete in the ISSF World Cup in Baku in 2023. The event's conclusion is May 14. (ANI)
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