Apurvi Chandela wins second ISSF World Cup gold of the year

Apurvi Chandela has clinched gold in women’s 10m air rifle at the ISSF World Cup in Munich. She shot 251 points in the final to pip China’s Luyao Wang’s score of 250.8. This was Apurvi’s second gold of the year, having won the first at the Delhi World Cup in February. Apurvi’s competitor Elavenil Valarivan narrowly missed out on a medal after finishing fourth behind China’s Xu Hong.

Indian shooters are competing for 12 of the 17 Tokyo Olympic quotas available in Munich, having already secured five quota places in rifle and pistol competitions. Chandela and Anjum Mudgil were the first to secure their places. Saurabh Chaudhary then sealed the third quota place with a world record score at the Delhi World Cup in February.

The fourth and fifth spots were taken by Divyansh Singh Panwar and Abhishek Verma, respectively, at the Beijing World Cup.Indians therefore had to forfeit their right to quotas in the women’s 10m air rifle and men’s 10m air pistol events. Panwar’s victory in Beijing means that only one Olympic quota is available for the Indians in the men’s 10m air rifle event in Munich.