Indian shooting contingent who made the country proud in the recently concluded International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Rio World Cup by winning 5 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals were accorded a rousing welcomed on returning to Delhi on Thursday morning.
A large crowd greeted shooters Abhishek Verma and Deepak Kumar at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the national capital.
India finished as the leading nation in the ISSF Shooting Senior World Cup events in 2019 by bagging 16 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze medals.
Verma won the gold medal in the men's 10m air pistol event whereas Kumar won the gold in the 10m air rifle mixed team event. Both players expressed happiness on winning the medals and said they are hopeful of replicating the performance in the upcoming Olympics next year.
"We won 5 gold medals in the tournament; we hope to showcase better performances going ahead. We were on top of the medal tally and we were also able to win two Olympic quotas. We have a bright chance in the upcoming Olympics, our shooting contingent has been in good form so we are very hopeful," Verma told .
"The Indian shooting contingent is number one in the world. All the World Cups that have happened this year, we have been able to showcase the best performance. I hope shooters will be able to replicate the performance going forward," Kumar said.
The team of Manu Baker/Saurabh Chaudhary had defeated Yashaswini Deswai/Abhishek Verma to give India its fifth medal in the World Cup.
Earlier, Apurvi Chandela had partnered with Deepak Kumar to hand India its fourth gold in the tournament.
These wins had ensured an unprecedented to finish for the country across all four ISSF World Cup stages this year including the lone ISSF Junior World Cup.
( With inputs from ANI )