It was an all-Indian affair in the gold medal match of the men’s 10 m air rifle event at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany on Wednesday, as Rudrankksh Patil got the better of Abhinav Shaw to win 17-13.
The Indian duo shot consistently well throughout Wednesday morning, first crossing the eight-man final stage elimination hurdle and then putting up a show in the gold-medal match.
Earlier on Tuesday, Day 1 of the tournament, Patil had also topped the qualification stage with 627.5 points, leading three Indians into the top-eight stage. Paarth Makhija accompanied the duo, holding on to his fifth position in qualifying in the end classifications.
But the morning undoubtedly belonged to Patil who dominated all three stages of the competition over two days of Shooting. In the final, it was Shaw who started the stronger in the early stages, going up 4-2 after the first three shots. Patil recovered quickly though, and went past his countryman, keeping his nose ahead till the very end to seal victory.
Germnay’s Nils Palberg won bronze.
In the junior women’s 10M Air Rifle, Ramita of India, after topping qualification on Tuesday with a solid 630.5, and later also topped the final stage elimination with a score of 261.0. However, she settled for silver in the end, going down 8-16 to France’s Oceanne Muller, a reigning Junior World Champion and Tokyo Olympics finalist, in the gold medal match.
India is presently topping the medal tally as well with one gold and two silver medals.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!