Three gold medallists from last month’s opening World Cup Rifle and Pistol of the season in Cairo will chase consecutive titles at the ISSF World Cup 10m competition that starts in Granada tomorrow - Anna Korakaki, Anna Janssen and Divyansh Panwar.
Greece’s Korakaki, who earned her seventh individual World Cup title in the Egyptian capital by winning the 10m air rifle women, will again face the 30-year-old Indian shooter whom she beat by just 0.2 points, Devi Anuradha, who was making her international debut at the age of 33.
Korakaki, the Rio 2016 champion in the 25m pistol who also earned Rio 2016 bronze and 2023 world silver in the 10m, will be in action tomorrow against a richly talented field.
Other big names in contention include the ISSF women’s Athlete of the Year Doreen Vennekamp of Germany, world champion and former co-world record holder in the women’s 25m pistol.
Also involved will be the Hungarian shooter who shared that world record of 40 hits with her, Hungary’s Veronika Major, and India’s Asian bronze medallist Rhythm Sangwan.
Sangwan’s compatriot Panwar, who set a men’s 10m air rifle world record of 253.7 points in Cairo, will carry strong Indian hopes in Sunday’s competition.
His rivals will include Serbia’s Lazar Kovacevic, bronze medallist in Cairo and silver medallist at the World Cup Final in Doha that concluded the 2023 season, and Sweden’s world champion Victor Lindgren.
The 10m air rifle women will feature Janssen, the 22-year-old German who won gold in Egypt, and the Indian pair of Asian champion Nancy Nancy and world bronze medallist Mehuli Ghosh.
Also in the hunt will be the Pole who broke through to win her first major title aged 28 at the World Cup Final, Aneta Stankiewicz, and Switzerland’s Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Nina Christen, who also earned Olympic gold in the 50m rifle 3 positions.
Tomorrow’s 10m air pistol men event will see the silver and bronze medallists from Cairo, respectively 40-year-old Samuil Donkov of Bulgaria and Latvia’s Lauris Strautmanis, seeking further podium places.
Their opponents will include Germany’s World Cup Final gold medallist Robin Walter, India’s Asian champion Varun Tomar, Serbia’s world silver medallist Damir Mikec.
Watch out too for the Italian pair of Paolo Monna, the World Cup Final silver medallist, and Federico Maldini, who won the final World Cup of 2023 in Rio de Janeiro.
All finals are being streamed live on the ISSF Facebook and You Tube channels.