ISSF shooting World Cup Cairo: Anish Bhanwala gave the country a medal in the rapid-fire pistol event after 12 years

Young shooter Anish Bhanwala on Thursday broke the myth of no Indian winning a medal in the 25m rapid-fire pistol event by winning a bronze on the final day of the ISSF shooting World Cup in Cairo. In this way, India finished the Cairo World Cup with seven medals including four gold, and topped the table. The Rapid Fire Pistol World Cup medal is something that India won last time on the back of Olympic medalist Vijay Kumar. Anish has repeated this feat after 12 years.

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This is a rare success for India in the ISSF shooting World Cup. Moreover, it was the 20-year-old shooter's maiden senior individual World Cup medal after three shoot-offs. Prior to Bhanwala, the only Indian shooter to win a medal in the event at the international level was Vijay Kumar. He won a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics and two podium finishes at the ISSF shooting World Cup.

With God's grace won my 1st Individual medal in ISSF World Cup in Rapid Fire Pistol. Very happy on this win as 1st medal is always special 🥉🇮🇳@issf_official @OfficialNRAI @Media_SAI @OGQ_India @manav_rachna pic.twitter.com/nLIBZ1speX

— Anish Bhanwala (@anish__bhanwala) February 24, 2023

Meanwhile, Italy's Massimo Spinella hit 32 in the medal match to win the gold. While World Championship silver medalist Clement Bessaguet of France fell two hits behind after 40 shots to earn the silver. Anish hit 21 hits in 30 shots to clinch the bronze. On the basis of this performance, India finished with seven medals in the ISSF shooting World Cup, including four gold medals.

After qualifying for the ranking matches with 581 points, Anish had to beat Yan Chesnel of France 11-9 in the ranking match to go through a shoot-off to make it to the medal round. Anish Bhanwala had to be content with a bronze medal in the medal match with 21 points. While shooters Arpit Goel (572 points) and Adarsh Singh (570 points) were competing for ranking points only (RPO). They finished 22nd and 26th, respectively.

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However, India remained out of medal contention in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions. Manini Kaushik finished 22nd and Anjum Moudgil finished 27th. The ISSF shooting World Cup has now transposed to Bhopal, India. The third World Cup of the year is to be held in there from March 20-27, 2023.