Anish Bhanwala Wins 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Gold at Junior Shooting World Cup


New Delhi, March 26, 2018: National Champion AnishBhanwala, won the Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Gold at the ongoing International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun in Sydney, Australia, getting the better of China’s Zhipeng Cheng 29-27 in the 40-shot final. Anish, who had in January broken the world record in the event with a score of 37 in the National Trials (world records are not recognized in national trials), topped the qualification round before that by quite a distance; shooting 585 while second placed qualifier Jueming Zhang of China managed 579, a good six points behind.

In the final, Anish and Zhipeng were fastest of the blocks shooting four out of five after the first five-shot series and the Haryana teenager went ahead 9-8 after the second series itself, maintaining a gap of two over Zhipeng throughout to clinch the his first Junior World Cup Gold. He also teamed up with AnhadJawanda and Adarsh Singh to win the Team Silver medal in the event with a combined score of 1714, behind China who shot 1733.

Anhad and another Indian Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu, also reached the individual final, finishing fourth and sixth eventually.

With two more days of competition and five more finals to go, India are now placed second on the medals tally with six Gold, three Silver and six Bronze medals, just below table toppers China, who have seven Gold, four Silver and six Bronze medals.