Divyansh Singh Panwar won the gold medal with a world record score.
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At the 2024 ISSF World Cup in Cairo, India’s shooter Divyansh Singh Panwar clinched the first-place spot in the men’s 10-meter air rifle event on Sunday. The athlete, who participated in the Tokyo Olympics, secured his spot in the medal round by topping the qualification with a strong performance and a score of 632.4. Another Indian shooter, Arjun Babuta, also made it to the finals by ranking fourth in the qualifying round with a score of 630.7.
Before this success, Panwar had shown his skill by grabbing two golds at the 2018 ISSF Junior World Cup held in Suhl. Together with Hriday Hazarika and Shahu Tushar Mane, he was part of a trio that set a world junior record with a score of 1875.3, earning them gold in the junior men’s team event. Additionally, Panwar teamed up with Elavenil Valarivan in the mixed team event.
With a score of 498.6, they broke a world junior record and became gold medalists. Meanwhile, Indian shooters Sandeep Singh and Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil ranked seventh and eleventh with scores of 630.4 and 629.3 respectively. However, their participation was only for ranking points and not for medals.
During the finals, Panwar showed remarkable composure and skill, setting a new world record with a score of 253.7, surpassing Chinese shooter Sheng Lihao’s previous record made at the Asian Games. Italy’s Danilo Dennis Sollazzo earned the silver medal, and Serbian Lazar Kovacevic took home the bronze. Babuta finished sixth with a respectable score of 166.1.
The same day, Indian newcomer Sonam Uttam Maskar impressed everyone by claiming silver in the women’s 10-meter air rifle event. With a score of 252.1, she narrowly missed the top spot by 0.9 points to Germany’s Anna Janssen. Aneta Stankiewicz from Poland secured the bronze, edging out India’s Nancy, who finished just off the podium.
Sonam and Nancy both reached the finals after qualifying in fourth and fifth places with scores of 633.1 and 632.7, respectively. Other Indian participants included Tilottama Sen, who ranked 29th in qualifying, and Ramita, who ranked 10th. So far, with two golds and three silvers, India is leading the medal count at the first ISSF World Cup of the year.
The Cairo competition marks the beginning of this year’s ISSF World Cup stages, which include rifle, pistol, and shotgun events. Fans around the world can catch the action live-streamed on the ISSF’s YouTube channel. Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Raiza Dhillon will lead the shotgun team for India.
Anantjeet won a silver medal at the Asian Games and Raiza won a silver medal at the Asian Championships. The event wraps up on January 31, and the only live coverage will be the event finals, with no TV broadcast of the event in India.
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