Indian shooter Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil won the Sportsman of the Year award (Olympic Sports) at the 2023 Sportstar Aces Awards in Mumbai on Monday.
“Thank you The Hindu group and Sportstar for felicitating me. It feels nice to know all our achievements are recognised. Being in this room with all the icons tells me I am on the right path,” said Patil.
In October 2022, 19-year-old Patil ended a drought in the Indian shooting. When he beat Danilo Sollazzo of Italy in the gold medal match of the men’s 10m air rifle event at the ISSF World Championships in Cairo, he became the first Indian - since Abhinav Bindra in 2006 - to win that particular event. In doing so, Patil beat a field that included all but one of the finalists of the Tokyo Olympics. He also claimed an Olympics quota for India with that effort.
While that doesn’t guarantee a place in Paris for him, Patil will surely be one of the frontrunners to make the Indian squad for the Olympics.
Legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, former India hockey captain M. M. Somaya, chess great Viswanathan Anand, former India football skipper Bhaichung Bhutia, Olympic gold medallist Bindra, Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra and Olympians Anjali Bhagwat and Aparna Popat are the members of the Sportstar Aces 2023 jury.
The event is supported by IDFC First Bank, Indian Oil, India Cements, United India, Ramaiah University, Experimenta Science Center GD Naidu Charity, Finolex Pipes, LIC, BPCL, Samsonite, Big Basket, Nippon Paint, CRICHQ, Wordswork, NewsX and Casagrand.
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