Patil shoots World Championships gold, secures Paris quota

The 18-year-old prevailed against Italy's Danilo Sollazzo in the high-pressure final to become only the sixth Indian shooter to be crowned world champion

India's Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil shot gold in the 10m air rifle event at World Championships in Cairo on Friday, beating a quality field with a clinical display of shooting. The result has also secured India's second quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics after trap shooter Bhowneesh Mendiratta won the first at Shotgun World Championships in Osijek, Croatia.

Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil (middle) (Twitter/@Media_SAI)

Patil edged out Italian teenager Danilo Sollazzo 17–13 in the thrilling final that ebbed and flowed with each shot. The Worlds gold is Patil's first seniors medal; the youngster has been in scorching form in the junior circuit over the past year, having won a silver at Junior World Championships in Lima last year and gold at ISSF Junior Cup in Suhl this May.

Patil made the senior squad early this year and registered seventh and 11th-place finishes in the Baku and Cairo World Cups. The 18-year-old is now only the second Indian air rifle shooter after Beijing Olympics gold medallist Abhinav Bindra to win the World Championships, ending a 16-year-wait for the title.

"To win a World Championships gold is an ultimate achievement in an athlete's career, more so in a sport like shooting where these competitions also carry Olympics quota places," Bindra said.

Patil started strongly, shooting an excellent 633.9 to top the qualifications, leaving behind the likes of Olympic and double world champion Yang Haoran of China, reigning Olympic champion William Shaner of the USA, and Tokyo silver medallist Lihao Sheng of China. Teammate Kiran Jadhav also made the eight-man final, while Arjun Babuta could only manage 22nd place.

"It feels amazing. The magnitude of this medal is still sinking in," Patil said from Cairo.

"To be honest, I was in a daze for five minutes after the competition got over. Then the realisation struck. I trusted the process without thinking too much about the result, and the result took care of itself," he added.

Patil had a sedate start to the 25-shot ranking round — which are five series of five hits each — moving up to fourth place with a score of 104.2 after the first two series. He shot into the lead after the third round, logging 157 to be 0.1 ahead of second-placed Sollazzo.

Patil held the lead in the next series before the 19-year-old Italian upstaged him in the final relay. The duo went into the gold medal match while China's Lihao took the bronze.

Fight to finish

The race-to-16 format awards two points to the winner of each shot. An equal score means points are split, and the first to 16 points wins.

The final was an intense affair, with Patil and Sollazzo sharing points thrice. The Italian took an early lead, going 8-4, 10-6, and 13-9.

"I was a bit stressed then. He was shooting really well and was running away with the match," Patil said. "At that stage, I just tried to be calm and followed all technical processes to the fullest. I stuck to my game, and never stopped believing. Perhaps good karma helped me," he quipped.

Patil's fightback began when he was 9-13 down. After narrowing the gap to 11-13, he shot 10.8 to Sollazzo's 10.7 to level the scores. From then on, Patil never ceded advantage, shooting two high-quality scores — 10.7 and 10.5 — under pressure. Sollazzo could only come up with 10.4 and 10.2, meaning the world title went to the Indian.

"The pressure was too much to handle, but somehow I kept my calm when it mattered and produced the result we wanted. Winning the quota was always on my mind, although I am not thinking about the Olympics yet. We'll take it step by step," Patil said.

Rifle ace Bindra heaped lavish praise on Patil. "His performance was absolutely spectacular although this hasn't come as a complete surprise. I know he has been training with Heinz Reinkemeier who was my coach too, and Heinz has told me exceptional things about him. All in all, this was an absolutely fantastic performance," the 40-year-old said.

"I spoke to this boy a few months ago and he was very interested in little things. I was very impressed by his attention to detail and determination. His desire to become a holistic athlete is something that I found very impressive, given his age. All in all, it's a great day for Indian shooting," Bindra added.

Patil will be next in action on Saturday in the team event, partnering Babuta and Jadhav.