Suruchi beats Manu Bhaker in Shooting World Cup, wins two consecutive gold medals

Jhajjar's daughters Suruchi and Manu Bhaker created wonders at Las Palmas Shooting Range. Everyone was shocked by Suruchi's two consecutive gold medals in the World Cup. Meanwhile, two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker had to settle for silver. China's Yao Qianxun took bronze. On the first day of this year's second International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun session, Suruchi had 243.6 points in 24 attempts in the women's final in the 10-meter air pistol. Meanwhile, Manu trailed behind her by 1.3 points.

In the women's air pistol, the pair of Suruchi and Manu, who finished first and second, won India one gold, silver, and bronze medal each. In the men's event, Saurabh Chaudhary won the bronze medal. With this performance, India topped the medal table, while China remained in second place. It was clear from the qualification round of 60 shots that Indian shooters were performing well. Suruchi came second with 582 points, while Manu remained in fourth place with 578. The third Indian Sainiyam remained in eleventh place with 571 points.

Suruchi was consistently hitting brilliant shots in the final as well. She reached second place after the first five shots. Yao had taken the initial lead, and Manu was in fourth place. Uruguay's Juliet Jimenez was in third place. After the second five-shot series, Yao overtook compatriot Meng Yufei, who was just 0.1 behind, while Suruchi slipped to third place and Manu retained her fourth position.

Suruchi and Manu then made a great comeback, while Meng's performance dropped. After some consecutive excellent shots, both the daughters of India came in first and second place. Manu's 16th and 17th shots were a bit weak, which may have cost her the gold medal. Suruchi continued to perform well throughout the match.

In the end, Yao made a good comeback and overtook Juliet to win the bronze medal. But before the last two shots, Suruchi was 0.7 points ahead of Manu. Even in these two last shots, Suruchi performed better than Manu and maintained her excellent form that started from the national competition held in December.