ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup: Yashaswini bags gold, wins India its ninth Olympic quota place

Yashaswini stunned former Olympic and World Champion and present World No 1 Olena Kostevych of Ukraine to win the gold.

FILE PHOTO: Yashaswini Singh Deswal had topped the Qualification to enter the 10m Air Pistol Final.

Yashaswini Singh Deswal, 22, didn't twitch an eyebrow, even when the odds were stacked heavily against her in 10m Air Pistol of the ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Saturday. She topped the Qualification and stayed at the top in the final almost throughout, and when in the final moments she had to finish it all on a high, she pulled it off in style.

Only when she stared at the monitor to find out that she had shot 236.7 to stun former Olympic and World Champion and present World No 1 Olena Kostevych of Ukraine, did she let out a smile.

The newest Olympic quota winner on the block, yet another graduate from the Jaspal Rana school of shooting, with this feat, joined the elite quota holders list having Anjum Moudgil, Apurvi Chandela, Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma, Divyansh Singh Panwar, Rahi Sarnobat, Manu Bhaker, and Sanjeev Rajput.

As it happened

Deswal, earlier had topped the Qualification as well with a score of 582, seven points short of Anna Korakaki's and Kostevych's joint - World Record.

Kostevych and Serbia's Jasmina Milovanovic, meanwhile, grabbed the silver and bronze medals, respectively. Milovanovic, additionally, also won an Olympic Quota place for her country.

Earlier, in women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions Great Britain's Seonaid Mcintosh clinched gold with 461.2, while Kim Jehee (458.4) and Pei Ruijiao (448.1) won silver and bronze, respectively. The Indians in the event, Kajal Saini and Tejaswini Sawant crashed out of the Qualification round with scores of 1167 (22nd) and 1156 (47th), respectively.

India, presently, with three gold, one silver and a bronze, tops the medals tally with three more finals to go.