Buenos Aires, Apr 9 (PTI) Indian shooters Rudrankksh Patil and Arya Borse combined to win the silver medal in the 10m air rifle mixed team event at the ISSF World Cup here on Wednesday.

Representing India 1, the duo of Rudrankksh and Arya shot 9 in the gold medal match to finish second on the podium, with the Chinese pairing of Zifei Wang and Buhan Song winning the top prize with a total score of 17.

The second Indian team of Arjun Babuta and Narmada Nithin Raju finished fourth after losing to Argentina 1’s Fernanda Russo and Marcelo Julian Gutierrez 13-17 in the bronze medal contest.

Rudrankksh and Arya were second in the qualification with a total of 630.5, while Babuta and Narmada were fourth with an aggregate score of 629.6.

With four gold, two silver and one bronze, India are now placed second on the medal tally behind China, who have a couple of bronzes more.

In the gold medal match-up, the Indians did not do much wrong but the Chinese pair shot at a very high level, looking in control from the beginning to seal the contest in their favour.

Rudrankksh and Arya had their best phase from the ninth to the 12th single-shot series, of which they won three in a row and drew the fourth, but they had left too much to cover.

At the shotgun range, the women’s trap squad could not make the medal rounds. Neeru was the best Indian on show with a tally of 115 giving her the 12th place. Pragati Dubey was 16th with 110 while Bhavya Tripathi was 23rd with 106.

In men’s trap, veteran Zoravar Singh Sandhu had raised hopes with a 25 in his fifth and final round giving him a total of 119.

However, he would have to win a multi-way shoot-off for a single final spot. Prithviraj Tondaiman (117) and Lakshay Sheoran (115) finished further down the standings.

Late on Tuesday, Paris Olympian Vijayveer Sidhu fetched India its fourth gold medal at the tournament after he emerged victorious in the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol event.

Vijayveer shot 29 in a thrilling but low-scoring final to get the better of experienced Italian Riccardo Mazzatti, who was left one short after the eight series of five rapid-fire shots each. Chinese teenager Yang Yuhao won the bronze.

“I have played so many past finals with Gurpreet sir, Anish and others previously in the nationals, trials etc. and have performed well,” Vijayveer said after his final.

“So today I told myself that I had to do what I do there. Which is that I have to feel that I own the place like I do in Delhi. Just do the same things, but more importantly feel the same way.

“I just wanted to control what I can control and it worked. I am happy that this gold was a barrier and now it has been broken down and this will help future Indian athletes also in this event,” he added.

In blustery conditions, Mazzetti took an early lead, hitting 14 out of the first 20 targets with Sidhu trailing by one at that first elimination stage, which saw Seminikhin bowing out first.

The Indian had had a tough first series, scoring only one hit, but had responded with three solid fours, and then, a perfect five for his fifth series took him to the top and past Mazzetti by two.

The Italian came back with a five himself and tied with the Indian after the sixth series as both confirmed their medals. Meanwhile, the battle for bronze was between Yang and Chiryukin, which the former won via shoot-off.

Both Sidhu and Mazzetti could not be separated after the seventh series as well, as both scored four hits, relegating the 19-year-old Yang to bronze, despite him finishing with a perfect five.

With all to play for in the eighth, Mazzetti fired a three, but it was Sidhu’s day and his riposte was a four and a first individual ISSF World Cup gold.

Earlier on Tuesday, Suruchi Inder Singh had won a gold in the women’s 10m air pistol event. PTI APA AH AH PDS PDS