Pooja clinches ISSF World Cup bronze

New Delhi: Indian shooter Pooja Ghatkar made the country proud on Friday by clinching a women's air rifle bronze at the ongoing ISSF Shooting World Cup.

Pooja finished third with a total of 228.8 in the 10m Air Rifle final behind China's Mengyao Shi, who won a gold medal with 252.1 and Dong Lijie, who bagged the silver.

This was Pooja's first World Cup medal after two making it to two finals last year. She is also an Asian champion in 10m air rifle.

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) had earlier pinned its hopes on Vinita Bhardwaj, Megha Sajjanar and Pooja Ghatkar in 10m air rifle to give the country a good start.

Vinita and Meghna failed to qualify for the final after ending at 16th and 20th spot respectively.

On March 3 last year, Pooja narrowly missed out on a medal after ending up fourth in the women's 10m air rifle event.

Pooja ended her qualifying round of 40 shots each in a creditable third position behind China's Olympic and world champion Yi Siling and Singapore's HO Xiu Yi, shooting a score of 416.7.

Yi finished on top with a score of 420.2, while Ho Xiu Yi logged 418.5.