Rudrankksh Patil crowned World No. 1 in ISSF Rankings

Rudrankksh Patil is the new world number one in the Men's 10m Air Rifle category. In the latest rankings for 2022 released by ISSF on Saturday, the 18-year-old Rudrankksh is the only Indian to feature in the world's top three - across all shooting disciplines.

Three others from India feature in the top 10 of their respective shooting disciplines for the calendar year. Swapnil Kusale and Aishwary Tomar are ranked 9th and 10th in Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions, while Anjum Moudgil is ranked 4th in Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions.

This is a big drop in terms of overall numbers from last year. In 2021, four other men and women had featured in the top three lists across disciplines.

Since then, Divyansh Singh Panwar, Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma, Vijayveer Sidhu, Manu Bhaker, Yashaswani Deswal, Chinki Yadav and Rahi Sarnobat have all fallen out of the top 3 lists.

Being elevated to world number 1 is a fitting way for Rudrankksh to end the year. He has enjoyed a great run of form in 2022, also earning a quota for Paris Olympics in this time.

He won the junior World Cup gold before also winning the gold at the ISSF World Championships final in October, becoming only the second Indian to achieve the feat after the legendary Abhinav Bindra. He defeated erstwhile world number 1 Danilo Sollazzo of Italy in the final. He repeated this feat at the season-ending President's Cup in Cairo last week, finally dethroning Sollazzo.

Currently in Germany, training under Bindra's former coach Heinz Reinkemeier, the Thane lad has fast become the brightest hope for Indian shooting even as some more celebrated names have fallen off the radar.

As India prepare to reverse the disappointment of the shooting campaign at the Tokyo Olympics when the showpiece event comes around again in 2024, it would seem Rudrankksh - and his ongoing duel with Italy's Sollazzo - would be the main event.