Sarabjot Singh wins gold at ISSF World Cup in Munich – Firstpost

Sarabjot Singh on Thursday won a gold medal in the men’s 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Munich. The Indian shooter finished with 242.7 points, narrowly edging out China’s Shuaihang Bu who won the silver medal with 242.5 points. Germany’s Robin Walter won the bronze medal with 220.0 points.

This is India’s first medal at the ISSF World Cup in Munich and is a huge morale booster ahead of the Paris Olympics in July.

Filming, #ISSFWC Munich: A little shaky at the end, but most of Sarabjot Singh’s good work in the 1st half of the final allowed him to win India’s 1st🥇medal in Munich in the men’s 10m AP.

Well done Sarab! A great confidence booster for him (and for all of us) before #Paris2024

👏🥇🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/rxeKLWt0I2

– Vishank Razdan (@VishankRazdan) June 6, 2024

Sarabjot had qualified for the final with 588 points to take the first place. In the process, he became the third Indian to make the medal round at the World Cup, after Ramita and Esha Singh finished sixth in the previous air rifle and air pistol event finals .

Arjun Cheema and Varun Tomar had failed to qualify for the final after shooting 582 to finish 10th and 11th respectively.

The final featured reigning world champion Bowen Zhang and four-time Olympian Yusuf Dikec alongside Sarabjot, Bu and Walter.

Sarabjot scored a fine pillar-to-post victory for his second individual ISSF World Cup medal, following his breakthrough gold last year in Bhopal.

The young Indian was the strongest from the start, shooting three high 10s on his first five single shots to take an early lead.

His steady shooting continued and he never relinquished the lead until Walter caught him at the end of the 14th single shot.

A clutch 10.8 for his 15th seemed to have settled the final as Walter faded with an 8.6. After Zhang retired in fifth, Walter surprised Dikec for the bronze medal.

Before the last two shots, 1.4 separated Sarabjot from Bu, who until then was enjoying the chase while the pressure was on Sarabjot.

In the end, Sarabjot, who had dominated the selection events for the Paris Olympics, did well to maintain a morale-boosting victory.

Sarabjot had won a bronze medal in the 10m air pistol at the 2023 Asian Shooting Championships in Changwon and secured the first pistol quota for India at the Paris Olympics.

At last year’s Asian Games, Sarabjot won gold with the men’s 10m air pistol team and silver in the mixed 10m air pistol team event.

(with contributions from PTI)