In the men’s trap event Shapath Bhradwaj with a score of 118 finished 16^th 

Asian champion Neeru Dhanda finished a creditable seventh in the women’s trap competition at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Shotgun in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

She finished seventh after the first elimination stage of 10-shots. The Indian despite shooting all five targets in the second five-shot series, could not recover from three misses in the first.

Australian Penny Smith, the Paris Olympics bronze medalist, won gold with a world record 30 out of 30 hits, while Spain’s Tokyo Olympics Mixed Team champion Fatima Galvez won silver with 25. Women’s trap legend Zuzana Rehak Stefecekova of Slovakia, a three-time Olympic medalist and former world and Olympic champion, won bronze.

Earlier Neeru had a career-best qualification score in ISSF competitions. She had a series of 23, 23, 22, 23, 25 for a total of 116 to finish eighth and advance to final.

It was her second World Cup final in two years after finishing fourth in Lonato last year.

Teammates Manisha Keer and Pragati Dubey shot scores of 112 (24,24,21,21,22) and 111 (18,23,24,24,22) to finish 26^thand 29^th respectively.

In the men’s trap, Shapath Bhradwaj with 118 (25,25,21,22,25) was the best placed Indian at 16^th while Ahvar Rizvi’s 115 (23,22,23,24,23) gave him 39^th spot in the rankings. Vivaan Kapoor with a 114 (22,25,23,23,21), was further back in 55^thposition.

EOM