Singhraj clinches gold in para shooting WC

Al Ain (UAE), March 21 India's Singhraj has won the gold at the Al Ain World Shooting Para Sport World Cup, winning the P1 men's 10m air pistol SH1 final here.

Singhraj, the 2019 World Championships medallist, pipped Rio 2016 bronze medallist Server Ibragimov by 2.8 points. The final score read 236.8-234. Ibragimov was leading by just 0.1 point after the penultimate final series.

In the final series, the Indian had better control as he shot a 9.9 and 10.4, while the Uzbek shooter managed 9.5 and 7.9 to settle for the silver. Turkey's former Paralympic champion Muharrem Korhan Yamac took the bronze with 214.4 points.

World Championships medallist Manish Narwal, who had qualified in second place, had to settle for the fourth place with 194.3 points. Rahul Jakhar, who already had claimed a bronze in P3 mixed 25m air pistol SH1, finished in eighth place.

Singhraj's gold also pushed India (one gold, one bronze) to the third place in the medals table behind Ukraine (three gold, three silver and a bronze) and hosts UAE (two gold medals).

"I am very happy to win this gold after such a long time. Coming to this World Cup, I was very confident to get a good result here as I had trained very hard during the Covid-19 lockdown. My first international was here in Al Ain 2018, but I missed out the gold. In 2019 also, I had tio settle for the silver. I want to continue to continue this momentum and get a good a good result in Tokyo 2020," said Singhraj, who had missed out on the gold by just 0.2 points in Al Ain 2019.

"It was a good day for India. I am happy with how the players performed today, reaching the finals and Singhraj winning the gold. It is a big confidence booster for the entire team. Manish also had a good final. It was the first international finals after a long time and everyone is taking this event as a trial to enhance thir strengths and get better in their weaknesses," said national coach Subhash Rana.

In the P2 women's 10m air pistol SH1, Rubina Francis finished in eighth place. Mahavir Swaroop Unhalkar finished fifth in R1 men's 10m air rifle standing SH1, which was won by Ukraine's Andrii Doroshenko.

( With inputs from IANS )