The 18-year-old Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil won the gold medal in the men’s 10m rifle at ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Championship 2022 in Cairo, Egypt. It helps India secure the second quota in shooting for the Paris 2024 summer Olympics.
Last Friday (14th October), Rudrankksh appeared in the Gold medal match in the ongoing World Championship against the 19-year-old Italian Danilo Dennis Sollazzo. The Italian was once firmly leading by 10-4 (after the seventh series) and 11-7 (after the ninth series). But Rudrankksh slowly leveled the scoreline with his outstanding performances and ultimately won that Gold medal match by 17-13.
Earlier, in the qualification, Rudrankksh finished in the first position with a total score of 633.9. But in the ranking match, Danilo managed the first position with a score of 262.7, while the Indian youngster scored 261.9.
Another Indian Ankush Jadhav managed eighth or last position in the final ranking match (154.2). Arjun Babuta, the other Indian, failed to advance to the ranking match for scoring 625.3 in the qualification round.
Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil: 6th Indian to win a gold medal in the ISSF World Champion
Rudrankksh became the sixth Indian to win a gold medal in the ISSF World Champion. The other five names in this list are Abhinav Bindra, Tejaswini Sawant, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Om Prakash Mitherval and Ankur Mittal.
The youngster Rudrankksh became the second Indian to win a gold medal in the men’s 10m air rifle event of the ISSF World Champion after Abhinav Bindra in 2006.
Paris 2024: India’s first quota in shooting
Last September, Bhowneesh Mendiratta helped India to earn their first quota for the Paris 2024 Olympics after finishing in the fourth spot in the men’s trap competition in the ISSF World Championships Shotgun Osijek 2022 in Croatia.
So, just like Bhowneesh, Rudrankksh hasn’t also booked his place for the next summer Olympics yet.
Who is Rudrankksh Patil?
Before the ongoing ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Championship 2022, Rudrankksh Patil was standing in the 17th position in the 10m Air Rifle Men of the ISSF World Ranking.
Earlier this year, during the ISSF Junior Cup at Suhl (Germany), Rudrankksh won the gold medals in the men’s 10m air rifle and men’s air rifle team events.
In the ISSF Junior World Championships 2021 at Lima (Peru), Rudrankksh won a silver medal in men’s 10m air rifle.
Stay tuned to the Olympics for upcoming updates.
