It was another golden performance by Apurvi Chandela as she beat Xu Hong of China by 1.8 point in the women’s air rifle final of the H&N Cup here on Friday.
Qualifying in fourth place with a high score of 631.2, Apurvi shot 252.5 in the final.
After two golden efforts in the last competition in Austria, this was further proof of Apurvi sound preparation for the Olympics.
Apurvi was scheduled to shoot one more competition in Munich, but Rakesh Manpat, Apurvi’s mentor for some years, has suggested that she rest and recover for the selection trials to be held in Thiruvananthapuram.
Rakesh felt that the purpose of the European trip had been well served and Apuriv needed the rest and recovery to improve on her high scores.
Shriyanka Sadangi, who shot better than Apurvi in qualification for a score of 631.8, finished fourth behind Romane Matte of France.
Qualification topper Maria Martynova (632.1) of Belarus, finished eighth.
In men’s air rifle, Divyansh Singh Pawar (628.4) and Deepak Kumar (628.1) were unable to make the final, and finished 24th and 28th respectively, which provided a hint about the high quality competition.
Divyansh had won two competitions like Apurvi in Austria.
The results: Women’s air rifle: 1. Apurvi Chandela 252.5 (631.2); 2. Xu Hong (Chn) 250.7 (631.0); 3. Romane Matte (Fra) 227.8 (630.7); 4. Shriyanka Sadangi 207.2 (631.8).
