Rio de Janeiro, April 20 (IANS) India’s Jitu Rai finished sixth in the men’s 50 metres pistol event on the fifth day of the lnternational Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup (Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun) being held at the Olympic Shooting Centre here.
Jitu, who is the world number one in the event, on Tuesday qualified for the final in fourth position, shooting a score of 563.
He began the final on the backfoot, registering two shots of eight points each to start with. He seemed to regain composure with three consecutive shots of 10 after that, but a 7.9 in his ninth shot and 8.7 in his 10th put paid to all hopes of a medal.
Jitu was eventually eliminated after the 12th shot to claim sixth place.
Earlier, Jitu’s teammate Prakash Nanjappa had finished 19th in qualification with a score of 556.
Oleh Omelchuk of Ukraine won the gold in the event. It was Omelchuk’s sixth World Cup medal as he defeated Olympic champion Jin Jong-oh of South Korea here.
Omelchuk trailed for most of the match before overhauling Jin by firing an almost-perfect penultimate shot of 10.7, reports Xinhua.
The 32-year-old sealed the victory with a final effort of 9.7 to take his tally to 191.3 points, 1.9 points ahead of Jin.
London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Wang Zhiwei of China took the bronze medal with 169.7 points.
In the other event of the day, the men’s Double Trap, Indian youngster Ankur Mittal led the qualifications till the third round of 30 shots each, only to see his hopes of making the final fade away after shooting scores of 23 and 24 in the last two rounds.
He eventually finished 21st with a total score of 131. The final cut was made at 136. India’s Mohammed Asab finished 26th with a score of 125 while Sangram Dahiya shot 124 to end 27th.
Australia’s James Willett won the gold in the men’s double trap event while Russia’s Vasily Mosin took the silver medal.
“It looks like I’m peaking at the right moment,” Willett said. “I only started shooting double trap in 2014, and it feels great to win some medals and be on top of the podium.
“The range here at the Olympic venue is great. I think it will be a great venue for the Games.”
Walton Eller of the US, who won gold in the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, ended up with the bronze medal, overcoming Italy’s Antonino Barilla in the bronze medal match.
