New Delhi 2024: Ukraine’s Shchetnik overcomes Delhi belly to clinch gold

A Delhi belly and a strong challenge from Paralympic and world champions couldn’t stop Ukraine’s Iryna Shchetnik as she clinched her season’s first title at the New Delhi 2024 World Cup on Wednesday (13 March).

Shchetnik, a two-time silver medallist in Al Ain 2022 Worlds, shot an impressive 456.6 points to defeat reigning world and champion Anna Benson from Sweden (454.7) and China’s Cuiping Zhang (443.7) in the R8- women's 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 finals. The Paralympic champion from China already has a gold medal in R3 - mixed 10m air rifle prone SH1, at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting ranges.

After the kneel and prone shooting, Benson had the lead going into the elimination round. But she faltered with a few poor shots as Shchetnik produced consistent shooting to finish on top after a 45-minute battle.

"It was a tough final as my stomach was making sounds. I had pain in my stomach. We are not used to Indian food. And I already had smashed 8.0 so I told myself that I couldn’t make any more mistakes,” said the 24-year-old European champion on the penultimate day of action.

Power and Confidence

She also admitted the ‘excitement was obvious’ after winning the gold in the season-opening World Cup. “It’s (gold medal) a big treasure for me. It will bring me more power and confidence in the build-up to Paralympic Games.”

“The competition will become harder in every event as we get closer to the Paralympic Games. So, we will train more to handle pressure, more people around, tackle new shooters to experienced shooters etc. We are going to have a lot of training camps, play competitions in Changwon, Spain before the Games,” added the Ukrainian. 

Prominent names like Slovakia’s Veronika Vadovicova and India’s Avani Lekhara could manage the fourth and fifth places in the finals. 

In the other women's event, P2 - women's 10m air pistol SH1, seasoned shooter from Hungary Krisztina David produced an impressive show to pull off a pillar-to-post victory in the finals. 

David, who finished on 234.8 points, was followed by Neutral Para Athlete Oksana Berezovskaia (230.4) and local shooter Rubina Francis (211.2). The young shooter from India gradually jumped the leaderboard from the fifth to the third place, thanks to a cheering local crowd. 

“It was a tensed final. There was some issue with the target during the final, but I tried to stay calm and kept breathing. This event was a good test for my weaknesses and experience going into Paris 2024 Paralympics. I am aiming a result that I can achieve after giving my best in Paris,” said the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist David.

Chinese domination

Earlier, the Day Five began with Chinese domination as Paralympic champions Yang Chao and Dong Chao clinched gold medals in their respective events. Both the players already had one individual gold medals going into the finals.

With less than six months to go for Paris 2024, the Chinese warned their rivals on the range, once again. “I am not thinking of goal medals at Paris 2024. This will put pressure and expectations on me; I just want to shoot well in every match,” Yang had said.

And that’s what he did in the P1 - men's 10m air pistol SH1, leading the field throughout the elimination round with his steady shooting before finishing on top with 240.3 points. 

India’s Paralympic star Manish Narwal (236.7) and Korea’s Jeo Jeongdu (214.7) were engaged in a tight race for the silver, with the former ending as second best thanks to a cheering crowd which included his family. 

Motivation

“Whatever may be the medal, it was a good final to play. The crowd cheers motivated me to recover from a bad shot in the final. The next few months I am focused to work hard, both physically and mentally,” said Narwal thanking the crowd.

Dong, meanwhile, produced a dominating show leading in all three positions (kneeling, prone and standing eliminations) to finish on 456.1 for the R7 - men's 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 gold.  

The Chinese star was followed by Poland’s Marek Dobrowolski (452.8) and Andrii Doroshenko from Ukraine (440.1) in an energy-sapping finals.

The quota winners of the day were: Cuba’s Alexander Reyna Jerez (P1), Neutral Para Athlete Oksana Berezovskaia (P2), Australia’s Nathalie Smith (R8) and Greece’s Sotirios Galogavros (R7).

The action at the New Delhi 2024 continues until Thursday (14 March) with the schedule and results can be found here.