Zoravar Sandhu's Bronze Triumph: Indian Shooter Defies Age at Athens World Championship

Shooting at the Malakasa Shooting Range in Athens, Greece, on Friday, the Indian overcame rain, shadows, and the most unsuitable bib number to nail down 31 of the first 40 targets in the 50-shot final. He finished behind former Olympic champion and now world champion Josip Glasnovic of Croatia, who won gold with 44 hits, and junior world champion Andres Garcia of Spain, who won silver with a score of 39.

"It was a great experience. It was a tough range, tough conditions to shoot, but that's how it is, and here we are. I would like to thank my family, my coaches, and teammates for their support," said a visibly pleased but amazingly calm Zoravar after the final.

A thrilled National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) President, Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, said after the results came through, "It is yet another historic moment for Indian shooting with Zoravar helping us win only a second individual world championship medal in trap. It shows the level of confidence of our Shooting squad that with every international outing, new barriers are being breached. Full marks to Zoravar for his commitment and dedication, and also to Peter Wilson and the entire coaching staff, who, since coming on, have helped our Trap squad get better and better."

Zoravar's challenge began early on Friday morning, with his first task being ensuring qualification, despite missing just one target out of 100, over the first four rounds of qualification spread over the past two days.

He missed the seventh target but got 21 out of the first 22 before missing the 23rd target to log a 23 for the fifth and final round. A total of 122 (24,25,25,25,23) over five rounds would turn out to be enough as overnight leader and former world championship silver medalist Anton Glasnovic, equalled the world record with a perfect score of 125, to top the table.

Anton's brother Josip qualified second with 124, while American world No.2 William Hinton was sole third with 123. Zoravar went into a three-way shoot-off with Garcia and Frenchman Antonin Desert, was the first to miss, and so went into the six-man final with the highest bib number of six, a huge disadvantage, as any ties before the last 10 targets would mean he would have to bow out.

The Indian was then the first to miss in the final, missing his 2nd target, but got nine out of the first 10 to be fifth in the initial stages. Josip's first miss came on the 12th target, and Anton, after not missing over three days, had four after the first 15.

It was at this stage, with Zoravar tied second with 13 hits, that rain began to fall, and that brought about misses across the field. The Indian had a series of three misses in a row over the next 10, but survived as Hinton was first to exit after 25 targets.

Desert was next out and with the Sun and shadows now filling the ground, Anton's concentration gave way totally as he missed four of his last 10, to bow out in fourth after 35 targets. That assured Zoravar of a coveted world championship medal.

He then needed a perfect five again to get into a fight for gold, but missed three of his last five to settle for bronze as Josip powered on for gold and Garcia held on for silver.

The women's trap gold went to Mar Molne Magrina of Spain, after she shot 46 in the women's final to hold off Silvana Maria Stanco by four hits. The Italian had to settle for silver yet again after losing out on gold in the Paris Olympics final. Sandra Bernal of Poland won bronze.

Saturday (Oct 18) will be the final day of competition, where the final medals will also be decided with the newest Olympic event, the Trap Mixed Team, on the roster. India has two teams in contention and will aim for a second medal from the championship.

Other scores and positions on the day:

Trap women:

Aashima Ahlawat- 40th, 109 (20,19,22,23,25)

Neeru- 43rd, 109 (23,19,23,21,23)

Kirti Gupta- 62nd, 101 (20,22,21,19,19)

Trap Men-

Vivaan Kapoor- 52nd, 116 (23,25,22,24,22)

Bhowneesh Mendiratta- 76th, 114 (22,25,25,22, 20).

- IANS