India's pistol ace Jitu Rai displayed good form to sail through to the qualification round of the men's 50-metre pistol event on the opening day of the ISSF World Cup here today.
At the Olympic Shooting Range, Jitu shot a subdued 562, enough to finish fourth in his elimination round. His teammate for the upcoming Rio Olympic Games, Prakash Nanjappa also made it through by shooting 555 in his elimination relay to finish 13th. The other Indian in the event, Omkar Singh, also advanced with a score of 547.
In the day's other events, Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra finished 15th in the men's 10m air rifle event with a score of 626.2. Bindra has been shooting consistent scores over the last few World Cups but those have not been enough for him to make the final rounds. Chain Singh shot 622.8 in the qualification round of the same event to end in 41st position.
In the women's 25-metre pistol, Anisa Sayyed will go into the rapid fire round tomorrow in 12th place after having shot 291 in the precision round. Pushpanjali Rana is lying 61st in the event with a 282. Heena Sidhu was disqualified in the event due to an equipment problem.
In the women's 10-metre air rifle, Pooja Ghatkar shot 417.4 to end in 13th position. Ayonika Paul shot 417.2 in the event to finish 16th while Apurvi Chandela ended in 67th position with a score of 412.1.
