Shooting World Cup: Neeru makes first WC final, finishes fourth in women's trap

New Delhi, July 12 (IANS) National Games champion Neeru Dhanda reached a first-ever World Cup final to finish a creditable fourth in women’s trap, on the penultimate day of the fourth and final International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Shotgun stage, currently underway in Lonato, Italy. She shot 30 out of her first 35 targets in the 50-shot final.

Having taken the sixth and final qualifying spot by virtue of winning (2-1) a shoot-off over last year’s New Delhi World Cup Final winner Alessia Iezzi (Italy), Neeru eventually went out due to a higher bib number, after tying with bronze medallist and previous Nicosia World Cup stage winner Lada Denisova of the Neutral Athletes (AIN) and Paris Olympics silver medallist Silvana Maria Stanco (Italy), at that elimination stage. Australia’s Laetisha Scanlan won gold with 45 hits.

Earlier on Saturday at the renowned Trap Concaverde range, Neeru shot rounds of 25 and 24 to add to her 66 (21,23,22) overnight, for a tally of 115, the same score as Iezzi’s.

Preeti Rajak (114) also recovered well on the day with rounds of 23 and 25 to add to her 66 (20, 24, 22), but fell short by one to finish eighth. Pragati Dubey (18, 18, 21, 19, 24) was further back with exactly 100.

In the men’s trap, veteran Zoravar Singh Sandhu (24, 25, 24, 24, 24) dropped one bird each in his final two qualifying rounds for a tally of 121, putting him in a five-way shoot-off with at least two former Olympic champions, for the final two slots. He was the first to bow out, missing his second shot, according to information received from National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) on Saturday.

Zoravar’s teammates, Lakshay Sheoran (24, 22, 24, 23, 23) and Jaswinder Singh (23, 24, 22, 23, 24) had tallies of 116 each to finish further down the leaderboard.

Sunday will see two Indian pairs fight it out in the Trap Mixed team Olympic event on the final day of competitions.

--IANS

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