I was not eyeing gold at Mexico WC: Shooter Manu Bhaker

Indian pistol shooter Manu Bhaker, who recently clinched two gold medals at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Mexico's Guadalajara, on Friday revealed that she had just thought of giving her best and was not at all eyeing gold in the prestigious event.

Bhaker ended her debut international appearance at the ISSF World Cup with two gold medals in the Women's 10m Pistol and the 10m Pistol Mixed Team event.

Meanwhile, she also settled for the fifth place in the Women's 25m Pistol event.

Talking to ANI, Bhaker admitted that she has gained a lot of confidence after giving good performances in her very first international appearance.

"I have gained a lot of confidence after giving a good performance in my very first World Cup. Though I am confident, I can't predict about my performance in the upcoming events. I will just hope for a good performance and will look forward to my upcoming events. I will try to perform my best," Bhaker said.

Bhaker, however, revealed that she had never thought of clinching a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup and was just looking forward to perform to the best of her abilities.

"Heading into the World Cup, I had imagined to give a decent performance, but I had never thought of clinching a gold medal. I was not even eyeing gold specifically. I was just thinking about performing well. I was just thinking about getting a good experience," she said.

In 10m Pistol Mixed Team event, Manu Bhaker joined forces with Om Prakash Mitharval to win the gold medal.

The Indian duo bagged gold after posting a score of 476.1 points, 0.9 points ahead of Germany's Sandra and Christian Reitz, who claimed silver with 475.2.

Echoing similar views, unheralded Indian shooter Shahzar Rizvi, who also picked gold in the Mexico World Cup, said that he is hopeful of performing well in the upcoming events after clinching the medal.

"After picking up gold in Mexico, I am hopeful of performing well in future as well. The Olympic team is a mix of young and experienced players. The best part is experienced player Jitu Rai is also in our team. So, this also raises our confidence level."

He further said that he is now working on maintaining consistency in his performance and is looking forward to continue delivering good results.

"Me and my coach are training well in order to maintain that consistency. We will try to deliver good result in the forthcoming events. We will try to perform well in qualification as well as in final events," he said.

Bhaker beat host country's Alejandra Zavala, a two-time World Cup Finals winner, with a 10.8 in the last shot of the 24 shot final, to come out on top with a score of 237.5 in Women's 10m pistol event .

Rizvi had scripted a new world record on his way to the gold medal in the men's 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup.

The Meerut Boy, who was making his World Cup debut, posted a world record score of 242.3 points in the finals on the opening day of the event to finish at the top of the podium.

He had defeated reigning Olympic champion Christian Reitz of Germany, who had to settle for the silver with a score of 239.7. India's Jitu Rai bagged the bronze with a score of 219.