Former world champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu won the bronze medal at the 2015 World Cup in Acapulco, Mexico, but still missed out on an Olympic quota as the ace Indian trap shooter failed to finish within the top two positions.
The one Manavjit won yesterday in men’s trap event was India’s first medal in the tournament.
The gold medal went to Italy’s Massimo Fabbrizi, who beat legendary Australian marksman Michael Diamond in the final contest.
The Indian ace had 12 hits in the shootoff to claim the third spot in men’s trap in the season’s first World Cup. He beat Portugal’s Joao Azevedo in the bronze medal shootoff.
The other two Indians in the fray – Prithviraj Tondaiman and Zoravar Singh Sandhu – finished 24th and 49th, respectively.
Prithviraj had a score of 120 (25, 24, 25, 22, 24) after the first five rounds of qualification, while Zoravar managed 117 (25, 24, 22, 23, 23).
Manavjit finished second after the qualification rounds.
At the end of the first two rounds on Monday, all three Indians were tied at a score of 49. While Manavjit was placed at ninth, Zoravar was ranked 15th and Prithviraj was 18th.
After the completion of three more rounds yesterday, Manavjit shot up to the second position with a total score of 123 (24, 25, 25, 24, 25).
Only one point separated him from the two-time Olympic champion Michael Diamond, who finished with 124 at the end of the five qualification rounds.
The contest was tough in the bronze medal match as both Manavjit and Azevedo had 12 hits, and the winner was decided through shoot-off. But ultimately it was Manavjit who prevailed.
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