Rudrankksh Patil becomes 1st Indian World Champion in 10m air rifle since 2006

Rudrankksh Patil, on Friday, created history as he became the first Indian to be crowned the World Champion in Men's 10m Air Rifle since Abhinav Bindra achieved the feat in 2006.

The 18-year-old also earned a quota to the 2024 Paris Olympics, thanks to his brilliant show at the ongoing ISSF Shooting World Championships in Cairo, Egypt.

Patil, who bagged the men's 10m air rifle gold at the recently concluded National Games, seemed to be in tremendous form throughout the day as he first shot an impressive 633.9 - a score which might be a World Record, if ratified, in the qualification round.

The Maharashtra-lad continued his good run in the ranking round as well finishing second behind Italy's DD Sollazo with a score of 261.9 - 0.1 ahead of the third placed Lihao Sheng, to make it to the gold medal match.

The performance in the ranking round helped Rudrankksh Patil earn India a quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics as the top four shooters in this round were awarded a ticket to the quadrennial event. This is India's second quota for the Paris Olympics after shotgun shooter Bhowneesh Mendiratta earned the country's first quota last month.

With the Paris quota already in the bag, Patil seemed to have lost a bit of concentration in the gold medal match as he trailed 4-10 at one point. The youngster, however, made the impossible possible under pressure as he bounced back well to take home the gold medal with a 17-13 win over Sollazo.