Pune: With less than a month to go for the Tokyo Olympics, Rahi Sarnobat, 30, forcing his preparations by winning gold in the event of 25 million women’s gun at the Issf World Cup in Osijek, Croatia on Monday.
The Kolhapur Shooter, which will represent the country at the same event in Tokyo, shoot 39 in the final to seal the first place.
He is only one point to equal world record and two for solving it.
Silver went to the French Euro champion Mathilde Lamolle (31 points), while Vitalina Batsarashkina shot Russia 28 to reach bronze.
Another Indian in Fray, Manu Bhaker, 19, finished seventh after being eliminated second in the eight women’s final.
He shot 11 points.
To provide a perspective on his victory, Rahi defeated the Champion of the Anna Korakaki Olympics from Greece (finished 5th), the Monika Karsch Monika Medalist from Germany (20) and the Heidi Gerber bronze medalist from Switzerland (32nd).
Ranked # 2 In the world, Rahi is the top seed in the event and is challenged by Doreen Vennekamp Number 6 Doreen (Germany), Manu Bhaker (Rank 7), Monika (Rank 9), Hungary (Rank 9) and Vitalina Ranking 10.
Rahi shoots the best – 591 (295 precision + 296 fast) – to qualify the second for the final.
He looked unstoppable from the start with 5/5 in the first series.
The program has 10 series of five shots where the participants must take pictures according to orders and registered shots okay only if the shooter reaches 10.2 or higher.
Rahi on Monday reached 5/5 in five series and walked beyond the reach of its competitors at the end of the sixth series with 27 hit from 30 shots.
Mathilde second place is six points behind them.
Osijek medal is not a coincidence, because India has been running extra to prepare for a serious medal competitor in Tokyo.
The Kolhapur shooter was trained on the paper target during last year’s pandemic.
25m is always shot on electronic targets with green and red lights to guide shooters for shots.
“You can find out about your shortcomings in the competition and not training, so I crave them.
In addition to the European Championship, I also decided to participate in the Croatian national championship and it helped me to get enough competition in front of Tokyo,” Rahi told the toy after match.
The shooter, which was always shot in a 25m gun event, also decided to participate in the 10M water pistol event in the World Cup edition, which was the first participation in the WC on air events.
“I always feel lazy to go and photograph a distance of 10 m, even though it knows it will help me with the precision round.
But Samaresh (Jung) Bhaiya (national coach pistol) also encourages me to participate in 10m and sort of help me get it into the groove,” Add Rahi.
This is the third world golden Cup Rahi.
In 2013, at the Changwon World Cup, London 2012 Games participants were the first Indian gun shooter to reach the yellow metal.
With gold in Osijek, Rahi has raised hope for medals in Tokyo, which will begin on July 23.
Shooting Gold * The first Indian gun shooter to win WC gold in Changwon, Korea, in 2013, he has won three WC gold medals other than silver and bronze.
* The Asian Games champions in Jakarta in 2018.
* After completing 19 in the 2012 London match, Rahi has qualified for both Olympics.