No podium finishes for India on day 2 of ISSF World Cup

New Delhi, Feb 25 : Home advantage counted for little as Indian shooters Zoravar Singh Sandhu and Neeraj Kumar drew a blank in the men's trap and 25m rapid fire pistol finals respectively on day two of the ISSF Combined World Cup here.

In the qualifying for men's trap, Zoravar Sandhu was impressive as he shot 118 to enter the final in fourth position.

However, things did not go the way he would have liked to in the final, eventually finishing fourth in windy conditions.

He shot 28 out of the 35 targets in the final round, after scoring 23, 24, 23, 24 and 24 in five series of 25 targets each in the qualification.

A bronze medal was in sight for Zoravar, but he missed his 30th shot to bow out of contention, and disappointment was writ large on his face when he walked out of the range.

"Yes, it was not my day. Pressure was there shooting at home. Those who dealt better with the pressure they won. I was not happy with the way I shot in the final.

"I did better in the preliminaries though I made a good recovery from yesterday. It was windy but yesterday was windier,"



Zoravar said after the conclusion of his event.

Making a comeback to the sport after a long layoff, Birendeep Sodhi, younger brother of a former world Cup and Asian Games medallist Ronjan Sodhi, was 33rd in the trap qualification.

The 22-year-old Neeraj, having entered his first World Cup final, finished sixth at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range after shooting a total of nine targets.

The first one to be eliminated in the six-man final, Neeraj was the only Indian shooter to have made the cut after Gurpreet Singh and Harpreet Singh fell by the wayside in the qualifying.

"It was a good learning experience for me participating alongside these shooters. I learnt how quickly the Chinese lift. I did not feel any kind of pressure but things just did not work out well. I was doing better in practice," Neeraj, posted at the Army Marksman Unit in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, said.

Used on a trial basis in line with the International Olympic Committee's aim to achieve gender equality in its 2020 Olympic program, the 10m air rifle mixed team event saw no Indian presence in the final.