Anish Bhanwala joins India’s gold rush

New Delhi: Rising shooter Anish Bhanwala secured India a third individual gold medal at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Sydney when the 15-year-old finished atop the podium in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol in Sydney on Monday.

Having qualified for the final with the highest score, Bhanwala prevailed over two of his India team mates — Anhad Jawanda and Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu — and three Chinese participants in the medal round.

India are now second in the overall standings with 15 medals —six gold, three silver and six bronze — behind China and ahead of top shooting nations such as Italy and hosts Australia.

China secured gold and set a new junior world record with 1733 points, while India’s Bhanwala, Jawanda and Adarsh Singh took silver. The bronze medal was awarded to another Indian team comprising Sandhu, Japtyesh Singh Jaspal and Mandeep Singh.

Anish, who was seventh in this event at the ISSF World Cup Stage 1 in Guadalajara, Mexico, earlier this month, led the match from the first stage, as he was the only shooter able to nail a perfect five-hit series during the final.

After recording the highest qualification score with 585 points, Anish concluded with 29 total hits to pocket the first international gold medal of his career in this event.