ISSF World Cup Final: Anish Bhanwala wins India’s first-ever medal in 25m Rapid-Fire Pistol event
Anish Bhanwala shot 27 in the final to win the bronze. Peter Florian of Germany took gold, while two-time Olympic medalist Li Yuehong of China finished second.
Doha: Young pistol shooter Anish Bhanwala won India’s first-ever medal in the 25-metre rapid-fire pistol event at the ISSF World Cup finals on Friday as he bagged bronze in the prestigious competition. 21-year-old Anish shot 27 in the final and won the bronze. World Championship bronze medalist Peter Florian of Germany took the gold with 35 hits, while reigning world champion and two-time Olympic medalist Li Yuehong of China came second with 33 hits after eight series of five rapid-fire shots.
The medal in the season-ending competition capped a memorable year for the 21-year-old, who won a senior individual ISSF World Cup stage medal for the first time ever, a maiden senior Asian Championships medal and an Olympic quota place in Paris.
However, Anish, who was India’s last start at the Doha World Cup final, narrowly made it to the six-man final. His qualifying score of 581 was just enough to move German star Christian Reitz into seventh place. But with all three Baku World Championship medalists in the final, the Haryana boy had his work cut out for him. Florian threw four perfect fives in the beginning and then had another five in the seventh heat, which was enough to earn him the gold.
Yuehong also had four perfect runs of five hits and a pair of fours, ensuring his score of two in the seventh run did not earn him a medal short of silver. Anish, on the other hand, did well to keep up with the high shooting level all around, shooting two fives for his third and fourth runs to go with three runs of four hits.
The Chinese Jueming Zhang was the first to be eliminated with 12 hits in the first four series. He was followed by Clement Bessaguet who had 18 after five. Czech Matej Rampula failed with a no-hit in the sixth series, which earned Anish a medal. The Indian was two behind Chinese world champion Yuehong when he retired after the seventh heat.