India’s Sanjeev Rajput clinched the silver medal in the 50m Rifle 3 Position event at the ISSF World Cup that is presently on in Baku. The 35-year-old fired a final tally of 456.9 in the three events combined, thereby finishing just 0.6 behind the Gold medal winner, Petar Gorsa of Croatia.
The Indian was put in a pressure situation on two occasions, first while battling to stay at 4th place, and then during the bronze medal deciding shot. But the Indian responded in brilliant fashion on both occasions, firing back-to-back 10.8s to put himself in prime position for a top 2 finish.
This is Rajput’s 3rd World Cup medal, after he won gold in the same category in 2011 in Changwon and then a silver in the 10m Air Rifle in Sydney, in 2010.
His medal is also India’s second silver medal of this competition after Jitu Rai had opened the account on Saturday, winning in the 10m Air Pistol event.
Despite winning the Olympics quota, Rajput will not be travelling to Rio along with the rest of the quota winners, as he was replaced by trap veteran Manavjit Singh Sandhu when the team for Rio was picked in March.
