Indian pistol shooter Jitu Rai’s hard work bore fruit on Wednesday when he clinched the silver medal in the men’s 10-metre air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Munich.
The 27-year-old shooter from Lucknow shot an impressive 199.4 in the finals, after aggregating 583 in the qualification stage.
Another Indian shooter, Prakash Nanjappa, finished seventh after scoring 97.1 in the finals, to go with his 584 in the qualification.
Spain’s Pablo Carrera won the gold after shooting 201.3, while Pavlo Korostylov of Ukraine bagged the bronze.
In the 50-metre rifle 3 position men’s event, Olympic bronze medallist Gagan Narang was placed eighth in the qualifying stage.
Rai is the top ranked Indian shooter in both 10 m air pistol and 50 m free pistol. He had a good 2013 when he qualified for the World Cup final twice, in Munich and Changwon, Korea in the 50 m free pistol event.
A dedicated and disciplined athlete, Rai is one of India’s medal prospects at the July 23-August 3 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as well as the Incheon Asian Games in September.
