Suruchi Inder Singh wins gold, Esha Singh takes silver as India dominate ISSF World Cup

Munich: It was double delight for India in the ISSF World Cup here on Friday as Suruchi Inder Singh struck gold and Esha Singh won silver in the women's 10m air pistol, helping the country rise to the top of the medal tally.

Suruchi shot 242.1 to defend the gold she won last year at the Olympic Shooting range, while her senior teammate Esha shot 241.2 to settle for silver. Korean Choo Gaeun won bronze.

India now have two gold and one silver in the year's second ISSF World Cup leg, with the two mixed events in rifle and pistol left to be played on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, the duo just about made the final, claiming the last two qualification spots. Both shot 578, pipping the reigning Olympic champion Oh Yejin by a point.

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Choo topped the field with a 583, while London Olympics silver medallist Celine Goberville of France and Bulgarian Miroslava Mincheva (580), the reigning European champion and winner of the bronze medal in the 25m pistol two days back, were among the others to go through.

Suruchi had a slower start compared to Esha, coming in at fifth after the first series of five single shots. Esha was third behind Celine and Choo at this stage.

As the final warmed up, Suruchi began finding her range, Esha and Celine were blowing hot and cold, and Choo was threatening to pull away.

At the end of the 14th, Suruchi, with three straight scores above 10, was challenging Choo for gold. Celine and Esha had slipped to fourth and fifth.

The 15th and 16th were the most dramatic, with Celine and Esha coming up to joint third first and then Celine bowing out in sixth as the two Indians got up to medal position behind Choo.

The pressure then got to Choo as Suruchi and Esha were hardly missing the 10-ring. Suruchi overtook her after the 19th and Esha secured a medal after the 20th..

Esha had 1.2 to make up on Suruchi over the last two shots. That became 1.3 before the 24th and final shot and despite a 10.7 from Esha, Suruchi's 10.3 would help her defend her Munich gold comfortably.

"I don't have any pressure, anytime," said the youngster, after claiming a fourth World Cup and fifth ISSF gold in two years.

Esha too won a creditable second medal in the competition, after winning gold in the women's 25m pistol with a world record score on Wednesday.

Indian men miss out

In two men's events on the roster, India missed out, one in very unfortunate circumstances. In the men's 50m rifle 3 positions (3P), Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar shot a 592 to qualify in sixth place, but was disqualified after his weapon was deemed to have discrepancies in dimension in a random post competition check. Rudrankksh Patil shot 585 to finish 53rd.

In the men's 25m rapid-fire pistol, Anish's effort of 577 fetched him 27th spot. Teammates Udhayveer Sidhu (574) and Suraj Sharma (574) were further back in 37th and 39th positions.