Sarabjot Singh gave India a dream start at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle\/Pistol, demolishing Ruslan Lunev of Azerbaijan 16-0 in the gold medal match of the men's 10m Air Pistol here on Wednesday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Sarbjot's compatriot Varun Tomar won bronze in the event on the opening day. This was the 19-year-old's second medal this year at the ISSF World Cup, having won the bronze in Cairo earlier this year, his first-ever senior World Cup medal.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Sarabjot, however, was the toast of the day, dishing out a dominating performance in his very first senior World Cup final, held at the newly inaugurated Finals Hall at the MP Shooting Academy range.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
It was a pillar-to-post finish for the 21-year-old pistol shooter, as he first topped the 60-shot qualification round among the 24 medals with a score of 585.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
In the 25-shot top eight ranking round, he topped again with a score of 253.2 before going on to register probably the first-ever blank-out of an opponent in an ISSF World Cup stage gold medal match.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
To put the icing on the cake, he shot a perfect 10.9 for his final shot to win his first-ever ISSF World Cup medal in some style.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
While Sarabjot was among the top three throughout the course of the ranking round, compatriot Varun Tomar had a blow-hot blow-cold final and even as at one stage it looked like it would be an all-India gold medal match, but he finished with a score of 250.3 to settle for the bronze.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Sumit Raman, the third Indian in the field, shot 577 to finish 10th among medal contenders.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
In the women's 10m air pistol event, Divya Thadigol Subbaraju finished fifth with a total score of 197.1, after finishing third in the qualifications with 579.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Two other Indians in the fray, Rhythm Sangwan and Manu Bhaker, shot scores of 572 and 568 in qualification to finish 10th and 12th among medal contenders respectively.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Esha Singh and Yashaswini Singh Deswal, competing under RPO in the qualifications shot 576 and 574 respectively.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
After losing out on a medal in the men's event, Chinese women shooters have made the job done, Li Xue defeated two-time world championship medallist Doreen Veenekamp of Germany 17-5 in the gold medal match.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Qian Wei ensured that they picked up two of the three medals on offer by finishing the ranking round in third place with a score of 250.2.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
China and hosts India ended competition day one with an identical medal tally of one gold and a bronze.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Qian Wei ensured that they picked up two of the three medals on offer by finishing the ranking round in third place with a score of 250.2.<\/p>\r\n\r\n