Sift Kaur Samra clinches bronze in Munich World Cup

Sift Kaur Samra brought India back among medals after clinching bronze in the women’s 50m rifle 3 Position event at the ISSF World Cup in Munich on Thursday. Sift, who had won gold in the Buenos Aires edition of the World Cup earlier this year, fought her way to the bronze after slipping to fourth position midway through the final. After qualifying second with an impressive 592, the Asian Games gold medallist was lying fourth in the 8-woman final. After the kneeling and prone position rounds in the final, Sift pushed USA’s Sagen Maddalena from third to fourth.

Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!

In the last 10 shots, Sift was the only shooter in the top-4 to shoot all 10s, while Sagen and even the eventual gold medallist, Jeanette Hegg Duestad (466.9) of Norway, and Emely Jaeggi (464.8) of Switzerland struggled with a few 9s.

Sift secured the third spot with the final score of 453.1. “It was a good medal to win. I was fourth and I am glad I started hitting good shots. Now I feel finishing third is a lot better than getting out without winning a medal,” Sift told TOI. “The match was held early in the day here so there was some wind, but I won’t say it troubled me much. I am happy with the way I shot in qualification and then in the final. It validates the things I have been trying out in my training,” she said.

Quiz: Who's that IPL player?Ashi Chouksy (589) and Shriyanka Sadangi (582) finished 11th and 53rd, respectively. Shooting in the Ranking Points Only (RPO) category, Olympian Anjum Moudgil was placed 27th with 586. Shooters in the RPO category are not eligible to qualify for the finals. It was a disappointing day for the men in the 10m air rifle event as no India could enter the medal round. Kiran Jadhav was 11th with a score of 631.7, while the eighth and last shooter to qualify for the final scored 631.8.

Arjun Babuta, who was placed fourth in the Paris Games, was placed 43rd with 629.1. Sandeep Singh, playing his first international competition of the year, finished 53rd with a score of 628.3. The best placed Indian was young Umamahesh Maddineni with a 7th rank in qualification and a score of 632.2. However, he was shooting in the RPO (Ranking Points Only) category and was not eligible to advance to the final.