India’s Anish Bhanwala wins silver at shooting World Championships
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Cairo: India's Anish Bhanwala endured two nerve-wracking shoot-offs in a high-quality 25m rapid-fire pistol final to clinch the biggest medal of his shooting career, a silver at the ISSF World Championships (Pistol/Rifle) here on Sunday, PTI reported.
The 23-year-old Haryana marksman more than made up for his 2024 Paris Olympics disappointment with a steady performance that saw him first survive a shoot-off for third place, and then ward off the challenge from Ukraine's Maksym Horodynets to win the silver medal with a score of 28 in a competition that tested the resolve of all six finalists.
The Sonipat shooter looked determined on Sunday as he first qualified for the finals in second place with a brilliant 585.
After shooting 291 in Stage 1 of the qualification on Saturday, he came back determined to notch up 294 in Stage 2 on Sunday and make it to the first pistol final of the World Championships.
Frenchman Clement Bessaguet, who won the gold tallying 31 points, topped the qualification with a score of 589.
In the final, Anish, for whom Cairo is a happy hunting ground, having won the World Championships mixed team silver in 2022, besides a few World Cup medals, was in the 'zone' as he shot a perfect five in the opening series.
The Indian, who finished 13th at the Paris Games, was placed second after the first three series of five shots each with a score of 16, while China's Ni Zhixin was the leader with 17 points.
He carried the tempo into the elimination round by shooting two consecutive 4s to be tied with three others on 20 points.
But he faltered in the third elimination round, missing three targets to total 22 and fall back, even as Clement started emerging as a clear leader with a score of 25.
Anish then survived a shoot-off for fourth place with Germany's Emanuel Mueller and overcame another shoot-off with bronze-medal winner, Ukraine's Maksym Horodynets, to go into the final series to shoot for the gold medal, which was eventually won by Frenchman Clement.
Anish's achievement in the event is only second to Vijay Kumar's silver-medal feat at the 2012 London Olympics.