Rahi Sarnobat defeated Kyeongae Kim by 8-6 in 25-metre pistol final in the ISSF Changwon World Cup in Korea on Friday. She became the first pistol shooter from India to clinch a World Cup gold medal.
This World Cup gold medal is Rahi’s highest medal in her career. The 23-year-old had won bronze in the same occasion in the Fort Benning, USA in May 2011. She was the junior most Indian shooter at the London Olympics in 2012.
Rahi had qualified for the semifinal stage in fourth position with a total score of 585. She was the second best semi-finalist with 15 points.
She disclosed that it is a dream which came true for her. She added that she had been working hard with coach Anatoli Puddubny for the last few months at the Gun for Glory Academy and she is thankful to Lakshya and Vascon for the support they provided her in this respect. Rahi was the gold medalist in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Following the World Cup victory, she has joined the prestigious club of rifle shooters-- Gagan Narang, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Anjali Bhagwat, Sanjeev Rajput, Ronjan Sodhi.
The Indian shooting team’s performance was not up to the mark in the beginning of the tournament on Thursday. Even Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra could not prove himself on the first day of the event. In the men's 10-metre air rifle event, London Olympian Sanjeep Rajput and Chain Singh, Beijing Games gold medal winner Bindra—all could not qualify for the finals following finishing at 19th, 25th and 15th respectively. Bindra scored 102.4 104.2 101.2 104.9 103.2 104.0 for a total of 619.9. Rajput settled at 618.2, while Chain Singh clinched 616.2.
However, the result was bit better in the men’s 50-metre pistol event. Prakash Nanjappa of India scored total 71.5 and managed to occupy the top-eight finish. Among others, Jitu Rai ranked 13th while Om Prakash ranked 27th. Both of them failed to clear the qualifying snag. Apart from Rahi, the women’s shooting event results were not that much attractive from Indian point of view.
