ISSF World Championships: Indian shooters end campaign with best-ever performance

The Indian shooters ended their 2022 ISSF World Championships crusade with the best-ever record of 38 medals, placing them second on the leaderboard behind China. The combined performance in the Egyptian capital of Cairo for the rifle/pistol competitions and Osijek, Croatia (shotgun) is a much-improved display from the previous world championships in Changwon, Korea, in 2018, when the Squad in Blue had finished with 27 hauls. India also grabbed three 2024 Paris Olympic quotas, while it had won a couple of Tokyo Games quotas from the Changwon worlds. Even from the standpoint of Olympic events, India had silver at the Changwon worlds, while this year, it improved to win a gold, won by Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil in the men's 10m air rifle competition.

Besides the quota won by Rudrankksh, Swapnil Kusale won an allocation in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions, a first for India in the event, besides Bhowneesh Mendiratta winning a quota in the men's trap in Osijek. India's absolute competitor at the Cairo worlds, Omkar Singh, shot 578 to finish 13th in the men's 25m centre fire pistol show. Former Olympic gold-medalist Germany's Christian Reitz fired 588 for the gold.

ALSO READ: ISSF World Cup 2023 - Bhopal all set for shooters' showdown as medals expected to galore

The Olympic events, featuring quite some new faces and first-timers, saw Rhythm Sangwan conclude fifth in the women's 25m pistols. While Anjum Moudgil finished sixth in the women's 3P, and Shiva Narwal was placed eighth in the men's 10m air pistol.

Esha Singh emerged as the most thriving Indian shooter with three golds and a silver medal, followed by Sameer Gulia, grasping a couple of silvers and bronze. Rudrankksh, Ramita and Samrat Rana also won two gold medals each, and Vijayveer Sidhu protected his 25m standard pistol men's junior title, besides capturing a bronze.

(With inputs from PTI)