India ends Shooting World Cup campaign with five medals

India summed up its campaign at the Shooting World Cup with five medals, including one gold, as Angad Vir Singh Bajwa ended the final day winning the Grand Prix bronze with Haley Dunn of the United States in the Mixed Team Skeet event, tested out for the first time in the tournament, at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range here on Friday.

It has arguably been one of India's best World Cup finishes ever with shooters Pooja Ghatkar in the Women's Air Rifle (bronze), Ankur Mittal in men's double trap (silver), Amanpreet Singh in men's 50m pistol (silver) and two-time Olympian Jitu Rai in the men's 10m air pistol and 50m pistol (bronze and gold) winning medals for the hosts, while the Grand Prix events do not add to the medal tally.

In Friday's lone event, the pair of Hayden Stewart and triple Olympic champion and Skeet legend Kimberly Rhode of the US won the gold in the Mixed Skeet Team event defeating Argentine siblings Federico and Melisa Gill 29-26 in the gold medal match.

Earlier, among the 22 pairings, which entered the Mixed Team Skeet event, six qualified for the semi-final round. They were then clubbed into two groups of three pairs each.

One pair was then eliminated on the basis of having the lowest score after 30 targets. The winner went straight through to the gold medal match while the second placed team made it to the bronze medal match.

Angad and Haley finished second in their group getting the better of Italy's reigning Olympic champion pairing of Gabrielle Rossetti and Diana Bacosi in the process.

In the bronze medal match, Angad was in sublime form missing just one target out of his allotted 15 to easily beat the all-American pair of Johnson-Connor in partnership with Haley.

--IANS

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