Rudrankksh Patil cliches 10m air rifle gold at Asian Championship

Former world champion shooter Rudrankksh Patil offered a glimpse of what lies ahead this season by clinching the gold medal, while Olympian Arjun Babuta finished second, as India made a telling statement in the men's 10m air rifle event at the Asian Championship on Friday.

Rudrankksh, one of the finest rifle marksmen to emerge from the country after Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang, shot a superb 251.9 in the final to hold off the challenge from compatriot Babuta (250.7) and stamp his authority on the sport, as the duo, along with Vishal Singh, also earned India the team gold in the event.

The 22-year-old Rudrankksh, who endured the disappointment of missing the Paris Olympics despite earning a quota place for the country, underlined his class by topping the qualification round with a superb 632.1, as two more Indians -- Babuta (628.0, fifth) and Vishal (624.6, eighth) -- also advanced to the eight-shooter final.

Rudrankksh began the final on a slow note, sitting sixth after the first set of five shots in the 'competition' stage, but quickly found his rhythm in the next series to move up to second. From there, he never looked back during the 'elimination' round.

This was Rudrankksh’s maiden individual gold at the continental level, having previously claimed the mixed team top-podium spot in Jakarta in 2024.

The team of Rudrankksh (632.1), Babuta (628.0) and Vishal (624.6) aggregated 1884.7 points to secure gold, pushing Kazakhstan (1879.4 points) and Japan (1877.2) to second an third spots respectively.

In the junior men's 10m air rifle event, India made a clean sweep of the podium, with Himanshu (250.0) clinching gold, followed by Ansh Dabas (247.9) and Suresh Pranav (226.8). The team gold also went to India as Himanshu, Pranav and Abhinav Shaw aggregated 1887.8, finishing well ahead of Kazakhstan (1851.3).

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