ISSF World Cup Final 2024: Akhil Sheoran wins bronze medal in 50m rifle 3 positions

India’s Akhil Sheoran clinched a bronze medal in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions shooting event at the ISSF World Cup Final 2024 in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old Indian shooter, part of the gold medal-winning 50m rifle 3 positions team at the Asian Games last year, finished third after shooting 452.6 across kneeling, prone and standing positions. This was Akhil Sheoran's first medal in an ISSF World Cup Final.

Hungary’s Istvan Peni (465.3) and Czechia’s Jiri Privratsky (464.2) won the gold and silver medals, respectively. Rio 2016 Olympian Chain Singh of India, who was eliminated before the standing round, scored 409.3 for seventh place.

Chain Singh had finished fourth in the qualifying round with a score of 590-32x, two spots ahead of Akhil Sheoran, who managed 589-35x. The top eight shooters from the qualifying round advanced to the final.

Reigning world champion Alexander Schmirl of Austria aced the qualifying round with a total of 593-37x but placed sixth in the final with a score of 419.2.

This was India’s second medal at the ongoing ISSF World Cup. Sonam Maskar opened India’s medals account with a silver medal in the women’s 10m air rifle event on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, medals were on offer in the men’s and women’s 50m rifle 3 positions rifle and 25 pistol events. Each event featured two Indian shooters.

The women’s 25m air pistol event saw Olympian Rhythm Sangwan register her second fourth-placed finish in the competition.

After missing out on a medal in the 10m air pistol on Tuesday, Rhythm Sangwan lost the shoot-off for a bronze medal on Wednesday to return empty-handed yet again.

Rhythm shot 27/40 before losing the shoot-off to the People’s Republic of China’s Sixuan Feng. Germany’s Josefin Eder (36/50), Camille Jedrzejewski of France (35/50) and Sixuan Feng (31/45) claimed the podium spots.

Simranpreet Kaur Brar settled for sixth place and was eliminated after shooting 20/30.

Meanwhile, Indian shooters failed to make it to the finals of the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions and men’s 25m rapid fire pistol events.

Asian Games silver medallist Ashi Chouksey shot 587-30x for ninth place in the qualifying round of the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions while Nischal (585-30x) was 10th. The top eight shooters made it to the final.

In the men’s 25 rapid fire pistol event, where the top six from qualifying made the cut for the final, Paris 2024 Olympians Vijayveer Sidhu (581-24x) and Anish Bhanwala (581-18x) came seventh and ninth, respectively.

Anish Bhanwala won India’s only medal, a bronze, at the 2023 ISSF World Cup Final in Doha last year.

Competitions in the ISSF World Cup Final are being held across rifle, pistol and shotgun categories. The season-ending event will conclude on Thursday.