India's pistol ace Jitu Rai reached his third final in as many International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cups this year, confirming he is in good shape with just over two months to go for the Rio 2016 summer Olympics.
On competition day two of the ISSF World Cup (rifle/pistol) at Munich's Olympic Shooting Range, Jitu finished fourth in his favourite men's 50m pistol event.
Anisa Sayyed in the women's 25m pistol also reached her second World Cup final round in two years and finished sixth overall, rounding off a good day for India which saw a representative in each of the two finals listed for the day.
Jitu was struggling as he began his qualification round in the 50m pistol, but high scores of 95 each in his third and fifth 10 shot relays saw him register a score of 560 at the end of six relays to qualify for the finals in eighth position. In familiar territory, Jitu started well, being in second position for a little while before a low round of scores saw him finish outside the medals.
Spain's Pablo Carrera won Gold while former Olympic Champions Wei Pang of China and Jongoh Jin of Korea won the Silver and Bronze medals respectively.
In the women's 25m pistol Anisa, who had ended the precision stage of qualification yesterday in 12th position shot a brilliant rapid fire round today to qualify for the final round in eighth position with a score of 582. In the first competition stage of the final round, Anisa shot 13 out of 25 hits to go into a shoot-off with two others for a place in the Bronze medal match-up. She, however, was first to be eliminated and ended a creditable sixth.
The Gold medal in the event went to Jingjing Zhang of China while Olena Kostevych of Ukraine won the Silver. Naphaswan Yangpaibon of Thailand won the Bronze.
Day three of competition will see the finals of the men's 50m rifle prone and men's 25m rapid fire pistol events. Indian hopes in the events will be carried by Gagan Narang and Gurpreet Singh respectively.