ISSF World Championships: Samrat Rana Creates History With Gold In Men’s 10m Air Pistol In Cairo
Samrat Rana won the men’s 10m air pistol gold at the ISSF World Championships in Cairo on Monday, becoming the first Indian to claim an individual world title in the event.
Competing in his first senior World Championships, Rana shot 243.7 to finish 0.4 points ahead of China’s Hu Kai. Fellow Indian Varun Tomar took bronze with 221.7, giving India two medals in the event.
“I still can’t believe it. It was my first senior World Championships, and winning gold is unbelievable,” Rana was quoted as saying by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI). “I was just focusing on my technique, not looking at the screen, and trying to repeat the process.”
Rana became only the fifth Indian shooter to win a World Championship title in an Olympic discipline, joining Abhinav Bindra, Rudrankksh Patil, Tejaswini Sawant, and the mixed team pair of Shiva Narwal and Esha Singh.
The 22-year-old started strongly in the final, holding a 0.3-point lead after the first two-shot elimination round. However, midway through the contest, he slipped to third place with a score of 181.2, trailing Tomar by just 0.2 points. Showing remarkable composure, Rana stormed back in the next six shots — producing two perfect 10.9s — to regain control.
With the title on the line, he needed at least a 10.3 on his final shot to edge out Hu Kai — and he delivered a 10.6 to secure the gold.
The day brought mixed results for India. Paris 2024 Olympic medallists Manu Bhaker and Swapnil Kusale endured difficult outings. Bhaker, competing in the women’s 10m air pistol final, led midway through the contest but slipped to seventh after shooting 8.8 on her 14th attempt. Esha Singh finished sixth after scoring 8.4 on her 16th shot.
In the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions event, Kusale suffered an early exit after shooting 575 in the elimination round. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (592) and Niraj Kumar (592), however, advanced to the qualification stage.
