Rahi Sarnobat yesterday became the first Indian woman pistol shooter to win a gold in an ISSF World Cup after she triumphed in the final of the 25m sports pistol event in Changwon, South Korea.
According to information received, Rahi beat local girl Kyeongae Kim 8-6 in the final to win the gold medal and joined the elite club of World Cup gold winners Anjali Bhagwat, Gagan Narang, Sanjeev Rajput, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Ronjan Sodhi and Manavjit Singh Sandhu.
Goldfinger: Rahi Sarnobat (left) and Anisa Syyed rejoice after clinching the 25m Pairs Pistol shooting gold at Delhi Commonwealth Games. PIC/AFP
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Rahi, who had qualified for the semi-final stage in fourth place with a score of 585, had sealed her final berth as the second best semi-finalist with 15 points. Kim topped the standings with 16 after the five series.
According to the new competition rules, top eight players from the preliminaries qualify for the semi-finals where points are given according to the number of inner tens scored by a shooter in each series of five shots.
The top two shooters then qualify for the final, while the third and fourth placed shooters face each other in the bronze medal play-off. u00a0In the race-to-seven points final, a player get two points for winning the series, while a point each is given if both the shooters are tied.
After two tied series, Rahi was the first to get off the block in the third and opened up a two-point lead. But Kim hit back immediately winning the next two series to take a 6-4 lead and push the Indian into the corner.
Facing a must win situation, Rahi upped the ante while her opponent struggled to keep her composure and lost the sixth and seventh series 3-1 and 2-1 respectively to hand the gold to the Indian.
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