New Delhi: The Indian shooting squad began their campaign in the season’s second big event from a Rifle/Pistol perspective, the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup, being held at Fort Benning, USA. The first Rifle/Pistol World Cup of the season was hosted by the South Korean city of Changwon last month. In all, nine Indian shooters were in fray on day one of competition. Abhinav Bindra, India’s only individual Olympic Gold medalist, led the charge in the 10m Air Rifle event and finished a competitive 15th in the qualification round for the finals, with a score of 624.6. It is definitely a step up for Bindra from his 46th place finish at Changwon with a score of 619.8.


Abhinav’s team-mates in the 10m Air Rifle, Sanjeev Rajput and Olympic Bronze Medalist Gagan Narang finished 25th and 26th respectively with scores of 623 and 622.9. Milutin Stefanovic of Serbia won the Gold in the event, with a final round score of 209.7


In the Men’s 50m Pistol, all three Indian shooters, namely Jitu Rai, Prakash Nanjappa and Om Prakash survived the elimination rounds and will shoot for a place in the finals tomorrow. Prakash Nanjappa in particular was in superlative form, shooting a 566 to finish third in his elimination relay round.


In the Women’s 25m Pistol event, the Indian trio of Anisa Sayyed, Anu Raj Singh and Rahi Sarnobat also failed to make the finals cut. Anisa finished 20th and the best among the three in qualification, finishing with a score of 577. Anu Raj Singh finished a point and two positions below her while Rahi Sarnobat could only manage 29th spot with a final score of 575.


India is aiming for Rio Olympic quota places, 24 of which are there for the taking at Fort Benning.