First-timer Jaypal Malviya earns LA28 quota in 10m air pistol

PUNE: On a day when all eyes on Manu Bhaker to win a medal and a quota place, Jaypal Malviya came unannounced to do the honours at the ISSF World Championships in Doha on Thursday. Madhya Pradesh's Malviya, who was participating in his first international competition in the medals category, won silver in men's 10m air pistol event and also booked India's first berth for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Malviya, 31, scored 242.2 in the final, while China's Hu Kai shot 243.9 to win gold. Czech Republic's Jindrich Dubovy took bronze and the third quota place on offer with a score of 220.9. Malviya had entered the final after shooting 585 in the qualification round.

Earlier, Manu Bhaker missed on winning a medal and a quota place after finishing fifth in women's 10m air pistol event. Manu scored 179.9 in the final and a fourth-place finish would have secured at least a quota as there were two Chinese in the top-four and only one athlete from one country gets the quota from one match. Another Indian, Suruchi Singh, met a similar fate as she finished behind Manu with a score of 158.3. Manu had shot 583, while Suruchi had scored 580 to enter the final.

In the men's final, Malviya. the son of a farmer from MP's Chhindwara district, got off to a modest start with lower 10s and some 9s in between till his first 12 shots. Though he maintained his ranking in the top-5, he changed gears after the 12 shots with 10.6, 10.2, 10.7 and 10.8 to climb up to second position in the 8-shooter final. In the last four rounds, where bronze and gold were decided, Malviya shot two 9.7s and a 10.7 to stay in the hunt, but Kai's 10.6, 10.7 and a 10.5 in the last three shots gave no chance to the Indian for gold. The final had three Chinese shooters, including Paris Games champion Yu Xie and Hu Kai, who had won all the gold medals in the four World Cups last year. The finalists also had Paris Games bronze medallist Paolo Monna of Italy, however, he crashed out of the final at fifth position, while Xie got eliminated at seventh position.

"He was playing only in his first international match, that too at the World Championships. He shot really well despite being shaky in the beginning. I feel he controlled his mind well and executed his plan effectively," India coach and former shooter Samaresh Jung told TOI