Former junior world champion Hriday Hazarika of Assam and Haryana's Nancy won their first individual senior World Cup medals, clinching silver in the men's and women's 10m air rifle competitions in Baku, Azerbaijan on Friday.
Hazarika shot brilliantly in the final, where his lowest score of 10.1 came in the very first of the 24-shot contest. Nancy was even better, recording a lowest of 10.2 in her final.
However, both went down to more accurate shooters on the day. Hriday lost to Hungary's Zalan Pekler who shot 252.4 to his 251.9, while Nancy, after going into the final two shots with a 0.1 lead over China's Han Jiayu, could not hold on to the cushion to finish with 253.3 to her opponents' 254.0.
The latest results left China and India locked in a battle for supremacy with two more days to go. China led the medal tally with two gold, one silver and two bronze while India have one gold, two silver and one bronze.
Hriday was the first to accept after the match that Zalan was just too good "on the day". Pekler, who is in the form of his life, having won the gold in the 10m air rifle in the previous World Cup stage in Lima last month, impressed from the qualification itself, going over the world record mark to shoot 636.2 for a second-place finish.
China's bronze medallist and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Sheng Lihao, who topped qualification with a sizzling 637.9, broke his own world record set in Bhopal in March.
On being asked whether he expected this performance at the start of the day, Hriday said, "Not really. I did not have any expectations as such. Just wanted to do my best and shoot according to the plan. I am happy that I was able to execute well today." It was a power-packed final with Chinese air rifle legend Yang Haoran, a former world champion and a Tokyo Olympic gold medallist also lining up besides compatriot Sheng, Hungarian ace Istvan Peni and seasoned Austrian Martin Strempfl, among others.
Hriday began with a 10.1 and was in second place after the first five-shot series, just 0.8 behind Zalan.
As others fell by the wayside, Zalan and Hriday held on their spots right till the 20th shot, when Sheng pipped Hriday to second with a 10.9 in his 20th shot. But as the Chinese faltered on the 21st, Hriday secured his top-two finish, but despite his best efforts, he was unable to catch up with Zalan, eventually finishing just 0.5 behind.
The two other Indians in the fray, Rudrankksh Patil and Shahu Tushar Mane, shot scores of 628.8 and 628.1 to finish 19th and 23rd respectively. Solid scores were also registered by Divyansh Singh Panwar and Arjun Babuta who were playing for ranking points only. While the former registered a 633.1, the latter finished with 630.6.
Second silver�� of the day as #Nancy shoots 253.3 in the women's 10m air rifle to finish behind China's Han Jiayu who shot 254.0. Excellent shooting this��������@Media_SAI @DeoKalikesh #TeamIndia #ISSFWorldCup #Shooting #IndiaShooting #Rifle #Baku #India pic.twitter.com/p7kpeJah5k
- NRAI (@OfficialNRAI) May 12, 2023
Nancy's route to silver was slightly tougher as she did not have as solid a start as Hriday in the final although she also qualified seventh with a score of 631.6 in qualification. Han Jiayu topped with 634.3 as two other Indians, Ramita (631.4) and Tilottama Sen (629.7), ended in ninth and 15th positions respectively despite shooting well.
"It was certainly the best performance of my career," said the Haryana teenager after the match.
Nancy was fourth after the first five-shot series and by the time Jeannette became the first to be eliminated after the 12th shot, the Indian had moved up to sole third.
Then Nina left in seventh place and Nancy moved further up to be joint second with Chinese Huang Yuting. By the end of the 16th, she was a full point behind Han and by the time she confirmed her medal with a 10.8 for her 19th and a 10.7 for the 20th, she was 0.6 behind the leader.
She continued with her excellent run and two more shots of 10.8 and 10.7 meant she was 0.1 ahead of Han going into the final two shots. But Han shot 10.7 to the Indian's 10.3 for the 23rd and with 0.3 to make up in the last shot, Nancy fired a 10.2, her lowest score in the final, to Han's 10.6 to hand the match to the Chinese.