Jitu Rai lived up to his name and reputation as he clinched the 50-metre free pistol silver in the 51st World Championship in Granada on Tuesday and, with it, grabbed one of the four Olympic quota places in the event, for the Rio Games.
While the reigning Olympic champion Jin Jingoh of Korea proved too good after having qualified at the top with a world record 583, 27-year-old Jitu pipped Pang Wei of China by 0.1 point to be in contention for the gold, after having led the finalists at the start.
The Korean eventually won by a 1.2-point margin over the rising star of Indian shooting, as Jitu had conceded considerable ground with shots of 8.0 and 8.7 early in the knock-out phase, and an 8.7 penultimate shot in the 20-shot final.
He will be competing on Thursday in his stronger event, air pistol — he is the current World No.1 and had won a gold and a silver in the World Cups in Maribor and Munich respectively.
Meanwhile, it was a heart-break for 21-year-old Ayonika Paul as she finished eighth in the women's air rifle, after having topped the strong field of 130 shooters with a total of 420.8.
The results: Men: 50m free pistol: 1. Jin Jingoh (Kor) 192.3 (583 WR); 2. Jitu Rai 191.1 (565); 3. Pang Wei (Chn) 172.6 (563); 33. Gurpal Singh 550; 38. Om Prakash 548. Team: 1. China 1677; 2. Kora 1669, 3. DPR Korea 1666; 5. India 1660.
Juniors: 1. Andrey Pochepko (Rus) 193.6 FWRJ (546); 2. Dario Di Martino (Ita) 190.1 (560); 3. Zhang Bowen (Chn) 169.7 (551); 18. Sumedh Kumar 538; 39. Vishwajeet Singh 522; 42. Samarjit Singh 514. Team: 1. China 1631; 2. Russia 1628; 3. Korea 1607; 8. India 1574.
Women: 10m air rifle: 1. Petra Zublasing (Ita) 207.1 ((418.3); 2. Yi Siling (Chn) 206.8 (418.1); 3. Sonja Pfeilschifter (Ger) 185.9 (418.0); 8. Ayonika Paul 80.9 (420.8); 44. Kiranjit Kaur 412.5; 67. Raj Chaudhary 410.3; Team: 1. Germany 1253.6; 2. China 1250.5; 3. Serbia 1244.3; 4. India 1243.6.
