India’s Anish Bhanwala endured two nerve-wracking shoot-offs in a high-quality 25m rapid-fire pistol final to clinch the biggest medal in his shooting career, a silver at the ISSF World Championships (Pistol/Rifle) here on Sunday.The 23-year-old Haryana marksman more than made up for his 2024 Paris Olympics disappointment with a steady performance that saw him first survive a shoot-off for third place, and then ward off the challenge from Ukraine’s Maksym Horodynets to win the silver medal with a score of 28 in a competition that tested the resolve of all six finalists.The Sonipat shooter looked determined on Sunday as he first qualified for the finals in second place with a brilliant 585.
After shooting 291 in Stage 1 of the qualification on Saturday, he came back determined to notch up 294 in Stage 2 on Sunday and make it to the first pistol final of the World Championships.Frenchman Clement Bessaguet, who won the gold tallying 31 points, topped the qualification with a score of 589.In the final, Anish, for whom Cairo is a happy hunting ground having won the World Championships mixed team silver here in 2022 besides a few World Cup medals, was in the ‘zone’ as he shot a perfect five in the opening series.The Indian, who finished 13th at the Paris Games, was placed second after the first three series of five shots each with a score of 16, while China’s Ni Zhixin was the leader with 17 points.He carried the tempo into the elimination round by shooting consecutive scores of 4 each to be tied with three others on 20 points.But he faltered in the third elimination round, missing three targets to total 22 and fall back even as Clement emerged a clear leader with a score of 25 points.Anish then survived a shoot-off with Germany’s Emanuel Mueller for the third place and finally overcame Ukraine’s Maksym in the shoot-off for silver.Anish’s achievement in the event is only second to Vijay Kumar’s silver-medal feat at the 2012 London Olympics.The other Indians in the fray, Adarsh Singh (575 – 285+290) and Sameer (571 – 286+285) finished 22nd and 35th, respectively.The Indian team, comprising Anish, Adarsh and Sameer, finished fifth, aggregating a score of 1731.
