ISSF Shooting World Cup 2023: India's Rhythm Sangwan wins 10m air pistol bronze

India's Rhythm Sangwan has won the bronze medal in the women's 10m pistol event of the ongoing ISSF Shooting World Cup 2023 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

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Rhythm finished third behind two-time Olympic champion gold medalist Anna Korakaki of Greece and silver medalist Olena Kostevych of Ukraine. Sarabjot Singh however failed to win a medal despite making it to the finals of the 10m Air Pistol men's and Esha Singh 10m Air Pistol women's event. Rhythm shot 581 in the 60-shot qualification while Esha shot 579. During this, both of them made it to the 24-shot final of eight shooters, finishing third and seventh.

The Indian shooters did not have a great start at the ISSF Shooting World Cup. During this, Esha failed to reach nine points in the first three shots. After the first 10 shots, Anna was first, Olena second, Rhythm fifth and Esha sixth. Esha eliminated from the competition after twenty shots. Rhythm was third with 219.1 points, Olena was second with 240.6 and Anna was first with 241.3. This is Rhythm's first individual medal at the senior level in Olympic competition.

Meanwhile, India's top shooter Manu Bhaker, who was competing for ranking points,  finished 40th in the 60-shot qualification stage with a score of 570. Divya TS failed to progress beyond the ISSF Shooting World Cup qualification round after finishing 18th after scoring 575. Among the other Indian shooters in the men's 10m air pistol category, Arjun Singh Cheema finished 12th while Shiv Narwal, Ujjawal Malik and Varun Tomar finished 17th, 41st and 52nd, respectively.

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The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) has adopted the Tokyo 2020 Olympics format for the ISSF shooting World Cup in Baku. The semi-final stage has been dropped for the ongoing event. The competition only has a qualification round, from which the top eight progress to the final. The Baku meet is the penultimate stage of the ISSF World Cup for rifle and pistol shooters. The final stage will happen in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil before the ISSF World Championships in November at Doha.