Trap shooter Manavjit Sandhu's finals chances brighten at ISSF World Cup

Veteran Indian trap shooter Manavjit Sandhu rallied to third place with a score of 72 out of 75 after day two of qualification at the ongoing International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup being held at Rio di Janerio's Olympic Shooting Centre.

Beginning the day in eighth position, Manavjit shot a 24 to match second placed Briton Edward Ling's overall score but two behind Alberto Fernandez (ranked number two in the world) of Spain who is on top with 74.

Meanwhile, Jitu Rai, who is World number one in 50M pistol narrowly missed out on the finals of the men's 10m air pistol. Jitu shot a score of 580 in qualification to finish ninth, missing out on a top eight finals berth on account of lesser inner 10s.

The ISSF tournament for rifle, pistol and shotgun is considered as a test event before the Rio Olympic Games in August.

At least two other shooters including JurajTUZINSKY of Slovakia, who went on to win the Gold in the event, had shot the same score as Jitu's. He will also take heart from the fact that he beat his Korean rival Jin Jongoh, a triple Olympic Gold medallist, to 12th place.

Meanwhile, India's Pooja Ghatkar secured 11th position with a score of 417.2 in qualification, a mere 0.3 points away from the finals mark, in the women's 10m air rifle event as Li Du of China won the Rio ISSF World Cup's first Gold medal.

Ayonika Paul came in 13th with 416.4 while Apurvi Chandela finished 20th with a score of 415.7.