Cairo, Feb 21 (PTI) Reigning world champion Rudrankksh Patil won the gold medal in the men’s 10m Air Rifle competition, while Tilottama Sen, all of 14, claimed bronze in women’s category of the ISSF Shooting World Cup here on Tuesday.

India now has five medals in its kitty, including three gold.

World number one Rudrankksh got the better of Germany’s Maximilian Ulbrich 16-8 in the gold medal contest.

Rudrankksh also topped the ranking round with a total score of 262.0, with Ulbrich scoring 260.6.

Tilottama ended the top eight ranking round with a score of 262.0, missing out on the gold medal match by the narrowest possible margin of 0.1. Her medal was India’s second bronze of the competition.

Great Britain’s Seonaid Mcintosh beat Switzerland’s Olympic Champion Nina Christen 16-8 in the decider to win gold.

Earlier, Rudrankksh qualified for the ranking matches after finishing seventh in the qualification round with a score of 629.3.

The other Indian shooters in the fray, Divyansh Singh Panwar and Hriday Hazarika narrowly missed out on qualification.

In the ranking round, where the top eight qualifiers face-off over five series of five single shots each to determine the top two who make it to the gold medal match, seasoned Israeli shooter Sergey Richter led after the first series with the Indian 1.2 points behind in fifth.

The champion was back in his element from the second series and a perfect 10.9 for his 10th gave him the lead for the first time. He held on to that slender 0.2 points lead over Croat Miran Maricic till the end of the third series and by the end of the fourth, that lead had swelled to 1.1.

Israel’s Richter was holding on to third. With only four shooters left in the fray, the world champion topped by a distance with a score of 262 after 25 shots. However, Maricic and Richter fell away as Ulbrich came up quietly to finish second with 260.6. Maricic managed bronze with 260.5.

The German had earned the right to fight the world champion for gold. The scores were tied 7-7 after the first seven single shots.

However, Rudrankksh took the next three series to lead 13-7, despite the German coach calling for a timeout after the ninth series.

Ulbrich kept fighting and earned a tie in the 11th series but Rudrankksh closed it out clinically in the 12th.

In women’s event, Britain’s Seonaid Mcintosh was in her elements from the qualification round itself, topping the 95-strong field with a score of 634.0, after 60-shots.

Tilottama, who also shot the second qualification relay, was second with 632.7.

She was joined in the top eight by two other Indians — Ramita, yet another teenager, who shot 630.6 to take the sixth qualifying spot and the winner of the Air Rifle Mixed Team event, Narmada Nithin, who grabbed the eighth and final spot with an effort of 630.5.

While Narmada bowed out in seventh position, both Tilottama and Ramita fought bravely for a spot in the title round with the experienced Seonaid and women’s 3P Olympic Champion Nina, being matched shot for shot.

The duo, however, fell short with Ramita finishing fourth and Tilottama settling for third spot.

On Monday, the Indian shooters swept the mixed team air pistol and rifle competitions.

R Narmada Nithin and Rudrankksh won the 10m air rifle mixed team event to give India their first gold.

Varun Tomar, who had won bronze in the individual event on Sunday, and Rhythm Sangwan then clinched the 10m air pistol mixed team competition.

There are four more finals coming up in the next couple of days.

Source: PTI News