Rudrankksh Patil wins World Championship gold and Olympic quota

After dominating qualification, a rookie in the senior section defeated Italy’s Sollazzo in the final.

At the World Championship in Cairo, Egypt, on Friday, Rudrankksh Patil won the gold medal in the men’s air rifle event by defeating Danilo Dennis Sollazzo of Italy 17-13 and securing the Olympic quota for Paris in grand fashion.

The 18-year-old Rudrankksh, who was making his men’s field debut, was a gentleman as he finished first in qualification with a score of 633.9. More importantly, he was able to dissuade two Chinese shooters, including Yang Haoran, the current world and Olympic champion.

After Bhowneesh Mendiratta had successfully shut the one-in trap at the most recent shotgun World Championship in Osijek, Croatia, it was India’s second Olympic quota.

Rudrankksh earned the event’s only gold medal in the air rifle category, following Abhinav Bindra’s triumph in 2006.

Rudrinkksh’s score of 261.9 in the second stage gave him the edge over Sheng Lihao’s 261.8 to qualify for the gold match. Yang Haoran came in fourth, and Lihao had to settle for bronze.

Rudrankksh won the qualification round out of 114 shooters by shooting scores in the range of 105.1 to 106.1 on the six cards. He had a 0.6-point advantage over Lihao, who won the bronze medal in the end.

Anjum Moudgil qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 2018 after winning the silver medal in the women’s air rifle World Championship.

India missed out on a bronze medal in the 50-meter rifle-prone mixed event as Nischal and Surya Pratap Singh were defeated 16-6 by Americans Katie Lorraine Zaun and Rylan Kissell. India finished second behind China in the medal standings.