Heena Sidhu shoots historic World Cup gold
Olympian Heena Sidhu capped a brilliant year by winning the women's air pistol gold in the World Cup Final in Munich on Sunday.
In what is a career-best performance, Heena Sidhu won the 10 metre women's air pistol World Cup gold in Munich on Sunday. The young Indian got the better of reigning world champion, Zorana Arunovic of Serbia to register the biggest triumph of her career. She thus became the third Indian shooter after Anjali Bhagwat (2003) and Gagan Narang (2008) to win a gold medal in a rifle/pistol event in World Cup finals.
Qualifying in the third place with a total of 384, two points behind leaders - former World and Olympic champion Olena Kostevych of Ukraine and Alejandra Zavala of Mexico - Heena found her best form in the final. Twenty-four-year-old Ludhiana girl Heena overturned a below-par start - she shot 9.3 with her first two shots - by scoring 10 or more in 17 of her next 18 shots. She jumped into the lead after eight shots and ended up with a total of 203.8 in the final to beat the reigning world champion by 5.2 points.
Meanwhile, Lajja Gauswami shot 435.5 and missed the bronze medal by 0.3 point in women's 50m rifle 3-position event. The World Cup silver medallist in Granada, the 25-year-old Lajja was beaten to the medal by three-time World Cup final gold medallist Wu Liuxi of China.
The results:
Women: 10m air pistol: 1. Heena Sidhu 203.8 (384); 2. Zorana Arunovic (Srb) 198.6 (382); 3. Viktoria Chaika (Blr) 176.8 (381).
50m rifle 3-position: 1. Petra Zublasing (Ita) 462.7 (585); 2. Andrea Arsovic (Srb) 457.9 (587); 3. Wu Liuxi (Chn) 446.4 (585); 4. Lajja Gauswami 435.5 (581).