New Delhi, June 19 (IANS): Indian pistol shooter Jitu Rai followed up his silver with a historic gold in the men's air pistol event Thursday during ISSF World Cup in Maribor, Slovenia. It was the first time an Indian shooter won two medals in a World Cup championship.
Rai, who missed the free pistol gold by 0.1 point and had to settle for silver, shot 200.8 in the final round of the air pistol event to clinch the gold medal, according to information received here.
Rai shot an excellent score of 584/600 and was ranked third in the qualification round. He had a series of 98 98 97 98 97 96.
The silver went to Carrera Pablo of Spain with a final score of 198.7, and Russian Gourianov Anto settled for the bronze medal with a final score of 177.2.
Rai's fellow Indian P.N. Prakash finished fifth with a final score of 137.4. Prakash was fourth in the qualification round with a total score of 581/600.
The gold was Rai's third medal in back-to-back World Cups. He had won the air pistol silver in the last World Cup in Munich.
National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh congratulated Rai for his excellent and unique achievement. Singh hoped that he would bring laurels for the country in the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, World Championship and Asian Games.