Shooting: Rahi Sarnobat wins gold in World Cup, books 2020 Tokyo Olympics quota

Indian shooter Rahi Sarnobat claimed a gold medal in the women’s 25m air pistol event at the ISSF (International Shooting Sport Federation) World Cup and subsequently booked quota for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as the 6th entrant in the Indian contingent. With this top act, she added a third medal to India’s tally at the mega event. Earlier in the day, Saurabh Chaudhury also bagged a gold medal in the men’s 10m Air Pistol category. The 17-year old broke his own record of 245, by scoring a staggering 246.3 points to emerge victoriously. Rahi Sarnobat has been a phenomenal performer for India at multi-sport events in the past. The shooter from Kohlapur bagged two gold medals each at the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games and defended his win four years later in Glasgow. Among her recent achievement was the top podium finish at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. With that win, Rahi Sarnobat became the first Indian woman to win an individual gold medal at the Asian Games in shooting with a games record of 34. The Arjuna Awardee remains one of India’s prime medal prospects when the contingent sets foot on Japanese soil for the biggest sporting spectacle. Shooting has been one of India’s forte in big-ticket events, hopefully, the trend doesn’t change next year. On Sunday, Apurvi Chandela completed a memorable gold medal win at the world cup in the women’s 10m Air Rifle category. The Jaipur girl shot a mammoth 251 points to edge past China’s Luyao Wang’s accumulation of 250.8 points. This was her second win this year after she won a gold medal at the World Cup in Munich earlier this year. This has been a great comeback for the shooter after she failed to claim top positions at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, where she had to be content with the Bronze medal in the 10m Air Rifle category.