Rudrankksh Patil was in brilliant form as he beat Danilo Dennis Sollazzo of Italy 17-13 for the gold in men’s air rifle and sealed the Olympic quota for Paris in style in the World Championship in Cairo, Egypt, on Friday.
The 18-year-old Rudrankksh, competing in the men’s field for the first time, was a class act as he topped qualification with 633.9. More importantly, he was able to ward off the threat from two Chinese shooters, including the reigning world and Olympic champion Yang Haoran.
It was the second Olympic quota for India after Bhowneesh Mendiratta had sealed the one in trap in the recent shotgun World Championship in Osijek, Croatia.
Rudrankksh’s gold in air rifle was only the second in the event for India, after Abhinav Bindra had won in 2006.
Rudrankksh pipped Sheng Lihao by 0.1 point in the second stage with his score of 261.9 to be eligible for the gold match. Lihao had to settle for bronze, and Yang Haoran finished fourth.
In the qualification stage, Rudrakksh had shot scores ranging from 105.1 to 106.1 in the six cards, to top a field of 114 shooters. He was 0.6 point ahead of Lihao, the eventual bronze medallist.
It may be recalled that Anjum Moudgil had won the World Championship silver in women’s air rifle in 2018 to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
India was second, behind China, on the medals table, and missed a bronze in the 50-metre rifle prone mixed event, as Nischal and Surya Pratap Singh were beaten 16-6 by the Americans Katie Lorraine Zaun and Rylan Kissell.
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