Rahi Sarnobat on Thursday became the sixth Indian shooter to seal a berth in next year’s London Olympics after winning the bronze medal in the 25m women’s Sports Pistol event at the ongoing ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning, U.S.A.
By virtue of the bronze, the 21-year-old Kolhapur girl won a quota place for the London Games and also earned India its maiden entry in the Sports Pistol event in the Olympics.
Rahi, playing only in her sixth World Cup, was at the bottom of the starting list in the final but came up with an excellent performance in the final to climb to third position from eighth.
Rahi qualified for the finals with a score 582 but with an excellent performance of 207.7, she eventually ended up third overall with a total score of 789.7.
The gold medal in this event was won by Chinese shooter Chen Ying, who equalled the world record with a score of 796.7, while the silver went to Otrvad Gundegmmaa of Mongolia, who shot 789.8 and took the other quota place available from this World Cup.
Gold medallist Ying has already won the quota place at the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Korea earlier this year.
Among other Indians in fray, Commonwealth Games gold medalist Anisa Sayyed finished a disappointing seventh out of eight finalists with a total score of 787 while Annuraj Singh, who won a quota place in the Air Pistol event, was ranked 33rd with a score of 574.
Anisa, however, was at the second spot at the start of the final with a score of 587 out of 600 but she came up with a poor performance of 200 in the finals to finish on a lowly note.
