ISSF World Cup: Apurvi Chandela shoots world record score to win gold in 10m air rifle event  

India's Apurvi Chandela got the hosts India to the perfect start at the opening day of the ISSF Shooting World Cup by clinching gold in the women's 10m air rifle event. The ace Indian shooter bagged the yellow medal after shooting a world-record score of 252.9 in the final at the New Delhi Shooting World Cup on Saturday.

Apurvi Chandela (Source: PTI)

New Delhi: India's Apurvi Chandela got the host nation India to the perfect start at the opening day of the ISSF Shooting World Cup by clinching gold in the women's 10m air rifle event. The ace Indian shooter bagged the yellow medal  after shooting a world-record score of 252.9 in the final at the New Delhi Shooting World Cup on Saturday. Earlier in the day, the 26-year-old ace rifle shooter made the cut for the finals, qualifying at the fourth spot with a total score of 629.3 after qualification at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range. The other two Indians in the fray – Anjum Moudgil and Elavenil Valarivan – finished 12th (628) and 30th (625.3) respectively. China’s Ruozhu Zhao topped the chart with a qualification World Record score of 634. India have already clinched the maximum of two Olympic quota sports for Tokyo 2020 in this category, when Moudgil and Chandela has finished second and fourth respectively at the 2018 World Championship in Changwon. With this podium finish, Chandela becomes only the second Indian after Anjali Bhagwat to win gold in the women's 10m air rifle event at a World Cup. This is Chandela's third individual medal at a World Cup. She won bronze in the Changwon World Cup in 2015 before winning silver at the ISSF World Cup Finals in the same year. Last year, Chandela followed up her gold at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games with bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Chandela won bronze with Ravi Kumar in the 10m air rifle mixed team event