Rajput secures India’s 8th Olympic quota

Thirty-eight-year-old Rajput shot 462.0 in the eight-man final, finishing second behind Petar Gorsa of Croatia (462.2). Gorsa won the Olympic quota in air-rifle. China’s Zhang Changhong clinched the bronze medal. Rajput, a former Indian Navy marksman from Haryana’s Yamuna Nagar, could have won gold but for a poor last shot.

This could have been his second World Cup gold after the one he won in 2011. Rajput had been denied a chance to compete in the Rio Olympics after his quota had been exchanged for a shotgun spot by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).

Abhishek Verma won gold while teen sensation Saurabh Chaudhary claimed bronze as Indian shooters dominated the podium in the men’s 10m air-pistol event. Verma, a part-time lawyer, shot 244.2 in the eight-man final. The 17-year-old Chaudhary’s 221.9 was good enough to get him the bronze after five gold medals this year. The silver medal went to Turkey’s Ismail Keles, who aggregated 243.1 in the season’s fourth ISSF World Cup.