ISSF World Championships: Anish Bhanwala wins silver in the event

India shooter Anish Bhanwala with his silver medal in Cairo on Sunday. PIC/NRAI

India's Anish Bhanwala endured two nerve-wracking shoot-offs in a high-quality 25m rapid-fire pistol final to clinch the biggest medal in his shooting career, a silver at the ISSF World Championships (Pistol/Rifle) here on Sunday.

The 23-year-old Haryana marksman more than made up for his 2024 Paris Olympics disappointment with a steady performance that saw him first survive a shoot-off for the third place, and then ward off the challenge from Ukraine's Maksym Horodynets to win the silver medal with a score of 28 in a competition that tested the resolve of all the six finalists.

The Sonipat shooter looked determined on Sunday as he first qualified for the finals in second place with a brilliant 585. After shooting 291 in Stage 1 of the qualification on Saturday, he came back determined to notch up 294 in Stage 2 on Sunday and make it to the first pistol final of the World Championships.

Frenchman Clement Bessaguet, who won the gold tallying 31 points, topped the qualification with a score of 589. In the final, Anish, for whom Cairo is a happy hunting ground having won the World Championships mixed team silver in 2022 besides a few World Cup medals, was in the ‘zone' as he shot a perfect five in the opening series.

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