Daijiworld Media Network - Cairo
Cairo, Nov 9: Olympian Anish Bhanwala showcased nerves of steel to claim a silver medal — his first-ever senior individual World Championship medal — on day two of the ISSF World Championship Rifle/Pistol in Cairo.
The 23-year-old Indian shooter endured four intense shoot-offs to secure the podium finish in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event, narrowly missing out on gold to Clement Bessaguet of France, who finally converted his back-to-back silver medals into gold. Maksym Horodynets of Ukraine settled for bronze.
Anish’s road to silver was a test of mental strength. After surviving a double shoot-off for fourth place against Germany’s Emanuel Mueller, he faced another high-pressure duel with Horodynets to stay in contention. In the penultimate series, both shooters tied, forcing two rounds of sudden death. Horodynets managed just two hits in the second round, while Anish held his composure to score four, guaranteeing at least a silver.
In the final series for gold, Anish needed a flawless five hits to overtake Bessaguet’s score of 29 but managed three, confirming the Frenchman’s title win and Anish’s well-deserved silver. “It is difficult to explain in words — the feeling is completely unreal,” said an emotional Anish after the match. “I have tried many times before, but couldn’t deliver under pressure. This time, I trained smarter and was mentally stronger. Things finally worked out in my favour.”
Anish had earlier qualified second for the six-man final with a score of 585-22x over two days. He started the final brilliantly with a perfect series, maintaining his position through consistent four-hit rounds before the elimination rounds began. The performance also secured Anish’s berth at the ISSF World Cup Final, to be held in Doha next month.
Earlier in the day, India’s 10m Air Rifle mixed teams narrowly missed the medal rounds. Arjun Babuta and Elavenil Valarivan finished eighth with 632.3 points, just 1.6 short of qualifying for the top four, while the second pair, Rudrankksh Patil and Shreya Agrawal, finished 21st with 628.8 points.
On Monday, India’s Suruchi Singh, Manu Bhaker, and Esha Singh will compete in the 10m Pistol event, continuing India’s medal hunt at the Cairo championships.