A series of consistent final performances and two gold medals steered India to a third-place finish at the recently-concluded ISSF World Cup in Munich. In this tournament, India registered their third top-three finish this year in four World Cups, bagging two gold and two bronze medals.

The team not only improved its standing from joint third last year, but also doubled its medal count, including the number of gold. “The Munich World Cup, an annual feature of the international shooting calendar held at the Olympic Shooting range, has once again brought out the best in our rifle and pistol shooters,” said K. Sultan Singh, Secretary General, National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).

“When many were saying and quite rightly so, that India will find it very tough given the large field, quality of competition and the fact that some of our best players were not part of the squad, our athletes have proven that the depth in Indian shooting is more formidable than ever before. On behalf of the NRAI, I congratulate the entire squad, including the coaches and support staff, for the amazing results, not only in Munich, but throughout the year,” he said.

The high point for India this time has been the stunning consistency of women’s pistol star Suruchi Singh. The Haryana teenager won an unprecedented third consecutive ISSF World Cup stage gold in the women’s 10m air pistol, two months after a memorable debut in Buenos Aires. The other striking part of India’s performance was Arya Borse and Olympian Arjun Babuta’s tremendous win over Chinese world record holders Sheng Lihao and Wang Zifei in the 10m air rifle mixed team final, where they completely prevalied over their opponents 17-7.

With some incredible and consistent series of high scores, they showcased the depth and new found confidence in Indian shooting. Elavenil Valarivan (women’s 10m air rifle), a two-time Olympian, and Sift Kaur Samra (50m rifle 3 positions women), also reinforced their status as world-class shooters with their bronze-winning performances. Elavenil also set a new qualifications national record of 635.9 en route to her bronze, while Suruchi equalled Manu Bhaker’s qualifications national mark of 588 in the women’s air pistol.

Indian World Cup debutants also performed remarkably. Ananya Naidu shot a solid 632.4 to finish 13th in women’s 10m air rifle, while Nishant Rawat (10m air pistol men) and Aditya Malra (air pistol men) shot scores of 582 and 578 to finish 10th and 27^th, respectively.

China finished on top of the standings with seven medals, including four gold, while Norway edged India to second on the basis of having won a silver with the same number of golds and medals as India.