Rahi Sarnobat clinches gold at ISSF World Cup 

Rani Sarnobat won a gold medal in women's 25m pistol on the fifth day of the ongoing 2021 ISSF World Cup in Osijek, Croatia, making it the most successful day for the Indian contingent.

France's Mathilde Lamolle and Russia's Vitalina Batsarashkina finished second and third respectively. The event turned out to be a disappointing one for another Indian star, Manu Bhaker, as she ended seventh out of the eight shooters taking part in the final.

GOLD!!! 🥇 @SarnobatRahi wins India’s 1st gold of the #osijek #ISSFWorldCup demolishing the finals field in the Women’s 25M Pistol 🔫 @realmanubhaker finishes 7th @WeAreTeamIndia @ISSF_Shooting #shootingworldcup #indianshootingteam pic.twitter.com/wSJQGQ4B6T

— NRAI (@OfficialNRAI) June 28, 2021

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This is Rani Sarnobat's second medal at the World Cup. Along with Manu Bhaker and Yashaswini Deswal, she had earlier claimed bronze in the women's 10m pistol team event.

The finale proved to be a one-sided affair. Rahi finished with a score of 39 to take the gold. Lamolle could only fetch 31 while Vitalina managed 28. Bhaker had a highly disappointing score of only 11.

In the qualification, Rahi Sarnobat fired a brilliant 296 in the rapid fire round. Her precision score was an equally impressive 295.

Silver medal 🥈 for #india !!! @schaudhary2002 & @realmanubhaker go down 12-16 to Russia in the finals of the 10M #airpistol Mixed Team event at the #osijek #issfworldcup @WeAreTeamIndia @ISSF_Shooting #indianshootingteam pic.twitter.com/su5r8fJlev

— NRAI (@OfficialNRAI) June 26, 2021

Rahi Sarnobat holds the distinction of being the first Indian pistol shooter to win a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup as well as the first Indian woman shooter to win gold at the Asian Games. The 30-year-old also has two gold medals from the Commonwealth Games; while she won 25m pistol pairs event in 2010, she went on to claim individual gold four years later.

Earlier this year, the Tokyo Olympics-bound Rahi Sarnobat won a silver at the New Delhi ISSF World Cup.

Sarnobat's gold comes on the heels of the silver medal that the pairing of Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary won in 10m air pistol mixed team event on Saturday.