Anish Bhanwala has been a lifeline for the beleaguered Indian shooting contingent at the ISSF World Cup Final with his medal, a bronze, in men’s 25m rapid fire pistol.
India was in danger returning empty handed from ISSF’s show piece event in Doha, which concludes on Sunday, but Anish, 21, stepped in to hand the country its first medal in a World Cup Final in this event.
Since that team bronze at the Hangzhou Asian Games, Anish’s stars have been on the ascendency. The disappointment of missing out on the Tokyo Olympics driving him, Anish secured an Olympic quota with bronze at the Asian Shooting Championship in Changwon last month.
Friday brought with it Anish’s third individual medal of the year, which began with bronze at the Cairo World Cup.
In qualification, Anish was the 6th and last name to qualify with a score of 581. He stepped up further in the final and finished with 27 for bronze. The gold was bagged by Germany’s World No 3 and Baku World Championship bronze medallist Florian Peter (35), who had also topped qualification with 587.
The silver went to China’s Li Yuehong with a score of 33 (586). World No 1, Li is a two-time bronze medallist at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics and the reigning world champion.
Anish put his medal in perspective. “I’ve won a lot of medals in my junior career, and this has been a great year for me with a World Cup medal, a quota place for Paris and now a World Cup Final medal. It is a huge achievement and I am happy and blessed by the support I’ve been getting from the federation (NRAI) and coaches.”
The journey in the senior ranks has just begun, and Anish said he was constantly learning from the senior shooters and coaches, and aiming high for the coming years.
As a shooting powerhouse, India has been making a mark at all major international platforms, and Anish is happy to do his bit, especially on a day when he made history at the World Cup Final with his bronze.