ISSF World Cup: Abhishek Verma wins gold, Sanjeev Rajput secures Olympic quota with silver

A day after India celebrated its champion in women’s 10m air rifle shooter Elavenil Valarivan after she clinched her maiden senior gold, it was now Sanjeev Rajput who secured India’s eighth Olympic berth with a silver medal in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions at the ISSF World Cup in Rio De Janeiro. Rajput shot 462.0 in the final and finished only second behind Croatia’s Petar Gorsa who shot 462.2. While Porsa and Rajput claimed gold and silver respectively, China’s Zhang Changhong added bronze to her name. 

Had the Haryana native Rajput won gold this year, it could have been his second World Cup gold after 2011. After a mediocre start in the finals, Rajput staged a powerful comeback as his first three shots were in the 9s. However, he lost the opportunity to clinch gold by a narrow margin of only 0.2 point. Rajput now joins the country’s other quota holders Anjum Modgil, Apurvi Chandela, Saurabh Choudhury, Abhishek Verma, Divyansh Singh Panwar, Rahi Sarnobat, and Manu Bhaker. 

In the men’s 10m air pistol event, India produced a scintillating display with Abhishek Verma clinching gold and Saurabh Chaudhury winning the bronze. While a resilient Verma shot 244.2 in the eight-man finals, a dominant Chaudhury’s 221.9 dived deep enough to win him the bronze. Ismail Keles of Turkey, who shot 243.1 in the final, took away the silver.

Now with Choudhury and Verma both confirming their berths in the previous qualifying events, India has already secured the maximum Olympic quotas available for any country in the World Cup. Choudhury finished fourth with 584 points, while Verma made his way into the finals after securing a fifth position with a total of 582 points. With a great start to this year’s fourth and final International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup, India topped the medals tally with two gold, one silver, and a bronze medal.