Shooting World Cup finals: Anish’s bronze ends India’s medal drought

The 21-year-old Anish had a strong performance in the final but missed three of the five targets in the sixth series. He had dropped only four of 25 shots till then.

Anish Bhanwala, who won the rapid-fire pistol bronze in the World Cup Finals  | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Anish Bhanwala ended the medal drought for India in the shooting World Cup Finals by bagging the bronze medal in the 25-metre rapid fire pistol event in Doha, Qatar, on Friday.

The 21-year-old Anish had a strong performance in the final but missed three of the five targets in the sixth series; each has five shots fired in rapid succession within four seconds. He had dropped only four of 25 shots till then. As luck would have it, Matej Rampula of the Czech Republic missed all five, leading to Anish sneaking to the bronze medal, one point ahead.

It has been a breakthrough season for Anish, who had finished 10th in the World Cup Finals in 2019. He won the bronze in the World Cup in Cairo, and also clinched the Olympic quota for the Paris Games, with a bronze medal in the Asian Championship in Korea.

Qualification topper Florian Peter of Germany missed only five of the 40 shots for the gold, two points ahead of Li Yuehong of China.

Akhil Sheoran placed fifth in the men’s rifle 3-position event. He had qualified for the final in sixth place with a score of 588.

Lucas Kryzss of France shot 465.2 to beat qualification topper Liu Yukun (593) of China by 0.2 point for the gold.

The results:

25m rapid fire pistol: 1. Florian Peter (Ger) 35 (587); 2. Li Yuehong (Chn) 33 (586); 3. Anish Bhanwala 27 (581).

50m rifle 3-position: 1. Lucas Kryzs (Fra) 465.2 (588); 2. Liu Yukun (Chn) 465.0 (593); 3. Jon-Hermann Hegg (Nor) 451.1 (590); 5. Akhil Sheoran 429.8 (588).