CAIRO: In a stunning display of rifle shooting, Indian Olympian Divyansh Singh Panwar set a new finals world record in the men’s 10m air rifle, picking up India’s second gold of the on-going International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun stage in Cairo, Egypt, in the process.
The 21-year-old shot 253.7 at the Egypt International Olympic City Shooting Range on Sunday, eclipsing Chinese Sheng Lihao’s 253.3, set at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year.
Divyansh had shown early form, topping qualification with a world-class 632.4 before bossing the 24-shot final with sensational precision shooting, leaving silver-winning Italian Dani Sollazo 1.9 points behind. Not only did he not shoot any score below 10, two of his shots–the fourth and sixth–were perfect 10.9s.
“I am happy to win gold after a long time. I had been shooting well in recent times but was missing out. This will surely give me confidence coming into an important year”, said Divyansh after Serbian Lazar Kovacevic won bronze, even though the second Indian in the final, Arjun Babuta, finished sixth.
This was Divyansh’s fifth overall World Cup stage gold and second individual gold after his last effort came in Putian in 2019. India now has two golds and two silver medals to lead the standings at the Olympic year’s first ISSF World Cup stage. (ANI)