Indian 18 year old had topped 10m air rifle qualification, and brought India its first Paris Games quota place in air rifle.
India’s Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil scored a sensational come-from-behind victory in the men’s 10m Air rifle final, beating Italy’s Danilo Sollazzo 17-13 in a shootout, to win the gold medal at the ongoing World Championships in Cairo on Friday. In the process of winning gold, Patil also earned India its first pistol/rifle event quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The other two quotas besides India and Italy went to China (Lihao Sheng finishing 3rd & Haoran Yang 4th) and Czech Republic through Jiri Privatsky (5th).
India’s last World Champion in the men’s air rifle was Abhinav Bindra at Zagreb in 2006, while Gagan Narang picked a bronze at the World Championships at Munich in 2010. Anjum Moudgil won silver in women’s in 2018.
The final was a glimpse into what the ISSF has in plans for the Paris Games with regards to the format. The last rule change meant that the eight participants in the final compete for rankings from 1-8. After a series of three, consisting of five shots per series, the two shooters with the least number of points are eliminated. From thereon out, two shooters get eliminated at the end of every series, until only the top 2 remain. Those two are then supposed to battle it out in a first-to-16 duel scenario, where a level score for both nets a point, and the higher score between both leads to two points to the winner.
After a 51.8 in his first series, Patil never shot under 52 for the next four series. The result – a score of 261.9, the second position in hand and the chance to go for gold with the slate all clean. Facing him in the final duel would be Italian shooter Danilo Sollazzo who had shot a monstrous 262.7 to qualify for the shootout.
In the shootout the first two attempts for both led to an identical 10.5 score which meant the scores were tied at 2-2. Sollazzo then took the lead in the next two shots as he continued to hit 10.5 and Patil managed only a 10.3 in his next couple of attempts. The scores now were 6-2. The Italian attempted to seize the initiative of the shootout, scoring yet another 10.5. But the 18-year-old Indian shooter responded with a perfect 10.9 to some loud shouts from the Indian contingent watching in support. At 6-4 though, Sollazzo won the next two rounds making the score 10-4.
At this point, it seemed hard to imagine a comeback for the Thane-teen. But the Italian’s next shot was a 10.3 and Patil responded with a 10.6. Both shooters then shot an identical 10.4 to claim a point apiece and make the scores 11-7 in favour of the Italian. The Italian lost two further points when he shot 10.2 and his counterpart replied with a 10.6.
But Sollazzo was far from done. In the next set, he dropped a 10.7 to Patil’s 10.4 to take his lead to four points again. But at 13-9, the Italian would not score any more points.
The comeback
Patil has been in shootouts before. In fact, before the World Championships, he found himself in one against Olympian Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar at the T6 national shooting trials. Patil eased to a 16-6 victory then and made his way to Cairo.
Here, down by four points, Patil began his comeback. But it began with a strategically placed time out, one where the Italian shooter, who was in some fine rhythm, was disrupted and had to wait for 30 seconds to take his shot. This moment was crucial as Rudrankksh returned from the timeout with a 10.5 to Sollazzo’s 10.3
The crowning moment of the match though was the next shot. With the scores tied at 13-apiece, Sollazzo brought out the calibre he had shown all through the event and dropped a 10.7. The Italian was cheered by his contingent and then all of a sudden, those cheers died a quick death as Patil dropped a 10.8. It was the turning moment of the match – one that gave the Indian a 15-13 lead. He quickly won the next two points as well to seal the gold medal at a World Championship.
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