Anish Bhanwala strikes India’s second gold in Junior Shooting World Cup

Anish Bhanwala was one of the three India shooters who qualified for the final of men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event. But, he achieved the top rank in the qualifying event.

Hours later, Anish achieved the top rank in the final as well and won the gold medal for India in the event at the Junior Shooting World Cup in Sydney on Monday.

The 15-year-old lead the competition from the beginning and accumulated the most qualification score of 585 points. He was the only shooter to hit a perfect 5-hit series during the final.

He had finished seventh in the same event at the ISSF World Cup Stage 1 in Guadalajara, Mexico, earlier this month but now pocketed the first international gold medal of his career in this event.

Two other Indians in the final — Anhad Jawanda and Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu — finished fourth and sixth respectively in the event. Anhad missed a medal by a whisker as he could get only 17 hits.

This was his second final at the Sydney World Cup after finishing seventh in the Air Pistol event two days ago. Sandhu was the first to get eliminated after four series.

China placed two shooters on the podium with 19-year-old Cheng Zhipeng winning the silver with 27 hits, adding it to the bronze he won at last year’s ISSF Junior World Championship in Suhl, Germany, while Zhang Jueming finished with 23 and claimed bronze in his first Junior World Cup start ever.

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