Para-shooting World Cup: Manish Narwal and Rubina Francis clinch gold for India

Manish Narwal and Rubina Francis came out with a brilliant show to shoot 552 with seven hits in the qualification round and book the gold medal match against Iraq (550) at the World Shooting Para Sport World Cup in Munich.

Manish Narwal and Rubina Francis with their gold medals. (Photo: IANS)

Indian shooters continued to excel in the World Shooting Para Sport World Cup at Munich, with the pair of Manish Narwal and Rubina Francis claiming gold in the P6 – 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event and Nisha Kanwar bagging a bronze medal in women’s 10m Air Pistol event. In the mixed team event, pistol shooters Rubina and Manish defeated Mousa Ali and Sarah Al-Shabbani of Iraq in the final with a combined total of 173 while the Iraqi pair ended with 166. Manish Narwal was in great form in the final, tally 90.3 while Rubina shot 82.7.

Narwal and Francis came out with a brilliant show to shoot 552 with seven hits in the qualification round and book the gold medal match against Iraq (550). On Sunday (July 17), Nisha finished third in the P2-Women's 10m Air Rifle SH1 event while Narwal faltered in the final and missed a medal in the P1-Men's 10m Air Pistol SH1 event, according to information reaching here.

In the women’s 10m Air Rifle event, three Indians – Nisha Kanwar, Sumedha Pathak, and Rubina Francis – made the final but only Nisha managed to bag a medal. Of these three, Rubina was best-placed among the Indians at second with a score of 565 behind Krisztina David Hungary (572) while Nisha Kanwar qualified seventh and Sumedha Pathak eighth with scores of 546 and 543, respectively.

Won Gold Medal in P6 - 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team SH1 Event @OGQ_India @IndiaSports @DGSAI @SAI_KSSRDelhi @CMMadhyaPradesh @PIBBhopal @dsywmpofficial @DSYWMP @MP_DSYW @JansamparkMP @ChouhanShivraj @socialwelfaremp pic.twitter.com/fOq9Gb2ejh — Rubina Francis (@Rubina_PLY) July 17, 2022

But in the final, it was Rubina who went out in the first elimination series with a score of 108.0. Sumedha was eliminated next as she ended with a score of 128.5. Nisha Kanwar, with some brilliant shooting, remained in contention till she was eliminated in the sixth series as she managed a score of 16.5 to claim the bronze medal with a total of 206.3 while Gaelle Edon (229.2) of France and Krisztina David of Hungary (230.0) claimed the gold medal.

In the P1 – Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 event, Manish Narwal topped the qualifying round with a total of 573, finishing a clear one point ahead of second place Jo Jeongdu of South Korea (572). Tokyo Paralympics double medallist Singhraj missed the final as he finished 10th despite a tie with compatriot Nihal Singh with a score of 556 – Singhraj finished ahead thanks to the 11 hits he had in the inner circle as compared to 10 by Nihal.

Things did not go well for Narwal in the final as he shot a couple of scores of 18+ as he ended fourth with a score of 190.4. Oleski Denystuk of Ukraine took the gold medal with a total of 235.0 while Jo Jeongdu of Korea claimed the silver at 232.5 while Tomas Pesek of the Czech Republic got the bronze with a total of 210.2.

India have so far won six medals – four gold, one silver and one bronze medal so far in the competition.