Rajeshwari Kumari wins seventh Paris quota in Shooting with a fifth-place finish at the Baku Shooting World Championship

Rajeshwari Kumari became the second Indian woman to ever win an Olympic quota place in the Women's Trap event after she finished fifth in the final at the Baku Shooting Centre, venue of the ongoing International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship All Events. Shooting in the Azerbaijan capital, after shooting a national record score of 120 (beating her own record of 118) in the qualification round, the India number one finished with 19 hits from the first 30-targets of the six-woman 50-shot final to snare India's seventh Paris 2024 quota place in Shooting. Chinese Taipei's Lin Yi Chun won gold with 40 hits to 39 of Italy's Jessica Rossi, the London Olympic and three-time world champion.

"I am feeling great. It's unbelievable. It's finally done. It's done for the country. I mean I wish I could win a medal but this is great. Paris…," said Rajeshwari as she signed off with a smile in her first reaction after the final.

Also sharing his thoughts was her proud father, renowned sports administrator and a former Olympian in the event and presently the interim President of the Olympic Council of Asia, Randhir Singh, who said, "It is certainly a proud day for me and the family. She first qualified for the Asian Games of which we were very proud and now she has won an Olympic quota. She carries on a family legacy."

India also won a bronze medal on the day in the team competition of the Men's 25m Center Fire Pistol, when Rajendra Bagul, Akshay Jain and Gaurav Chaudhary shot a combined 1718 to finish behind Germany (1743) and Korea (1731). India is placed third on the medal tally now with five gold and five bronze medals behind powerhouses China and USA.

Read Also: Paris Olympics 2024: Indian athletes who qualified for the Paris 2024

India thus ends their engagements in the Olympic events with one gold (10m Air Pistol Mixed Team) and two bronze (10m Air Rifle Women & 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men) medals and four (five if you consider the Air Rifle Mixed Team spot that they picked up with Mehuli's bronze) Paris 2024 Olympic quotas and seven finalists.

Rajeshwari Kumari's feat

The six finalists, besides former double trap world champion and four-time Olympian Lin, Jessica and Rajeshwari, included two-time Tokyo Olympics medallist Alessandra Perilli of San Marino, multiple ISSF World Cup medallist Cuicui Wu of China and Kathrin Murche of Germany. With Rossi ineligible for a quota, Rajeshwari held her nerve under blustery conditions and did enough to bag the coveted quota place.

Rajeshwari hit her first target of the final, whereas three finalists missed. With misses happening all around in challenging conditions, the Indian then missed her second, seventh 10th,11th, 13th and 15th targets. She then had a five out of five for her fourth series to move up to fourth with 14 hits with Perilli and Wu below her. Jessica Rossi led the pack with 18 hits.

Then in the first elimination series with the pressure building up, she nailed the 24^th bird to confirm safety and the historic quota. She was fifth at the end of 25-targets with 16-hits to her name with Perilli bowing out in sixth with 15 and Jessica still in the lead.

The other Indians in the field who could not make the final included Manisha Keer who was 23^rd with 115 and Preeti Rajak who shot 109 for a 58th-place finish. In the women's team competition, they collectively finished fifth.

Among the men, Prithviraj Tondaiman shot best and finished 23^rd with a score of 121. He shot rounds of 25 and 24 on the day. Olympian Kynan Chenai was 51^st with 119 while Zoravar Sandhu was 70^th with 117. India already has one quota in the Men's Trap through Bhowneesh Mendiratta. The team was 11^th in the team competition.