Visnu Shivraj Pandian wins bronze in online shooting event

India’s Visnu Shivraj Pandian, on Sunday, pocketed the $500 prize money after winning the bronze medal in the online Champions of Champions event of the President of Indonesia Open Tournament.

The 16-year-old shooter was the only Indian to make it to the USD 4,500 tournament after registering a score of 629.7 in the men’s 10m air rifle qualification event on Thursday.

In the final, Visnu was pitted against the likes of world number 6 Jung Eun Hea, World Cup bronze-medallist Keum Jihyeon and another World Cup bronze-medallist and Olympian Jasmine Ser, among others.

The Indian youngster, though, stood unwavered and even led the pack after his 14^th and 16^th shots. It was an intense three-way faceoff between the Indian, South Korean Keum Jihyeon and the Singaporean Jasmine Ser before Visnu was eliminated after the 22^nd shot following 10.3 and 10.4 off his final two shots.

While Singapore’s Jasmine won the gold with a score of 249.8, Keum took home the silver medal with a difference of just 0.1 point.

Visnu who trains under former Indian shooter Shimon Sharif had earlier defeated the likes of Martin Strempfl and Etienne Germond to clinch the gold medal in the 10m air rifle during 5^th edition of International Online Shooting Championship in October 2020.