Indian shooters stole the spotlight at the ISSF World Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Tuesday, with Suruchi Singh and Vijayveer Sidhu both clinching gold medals in dramatic performances. Suruchi triumphed in the Women’s 10m Air Pistol with a brilliant performance, winning her first-ever senior international medal, while Vijayveer made history by becoming the first Indian to win gold in the Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol at a World Cup.
Suruchi’s meteoric rise in the sport shows no signs of slowing down. The 18-year-old, who made waves with an unprecedented seven gold medals at the National Championship in New Delhi and followed it up with gold at the National Games in Dehradun last year, has now added a major international title to her growing list of accolades.
China’s Qian Wei and Jiang Ranxin, a two-time Olympic medallist, finished second and third, respectively. Qian shot 241.9, while Jiang finished with a score of 221.0.
The final saw Qian Wei set the tone with a 10.9 on her first shot. Suruchi, on the other hand, didn’t have the best start and found herself in fourth position with a score of 100.9 after the first ten shots, including a disappointing 8.9 on her 10th shot. However, she bounced back strongly as the eliminations began, moving into the top position after 13 shots and holding onto her lead until the very end to claim the gold.
Earlier in the qualification round, Suruchi topped the charts with a composed 583, while Jiang and Qian followed closely with 582 each.
Double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker finished 10th with a score of 574. She had previously placed sixth in the 25m Pistol event and will now focus on her next opportunity in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event later in the week.
The other Indians in the event, Surbhi Rao shot 574 (RPO), Sainyam (572) finished 13th, and Simranpreet Kaur Brar shot 569 (RPO).
In the Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol, Paris Olympian Vijayveer Sidhu faced a tough start, managing only one point in his first series. However, he mounted a strong comeback in the second, third, and fourth series, registering four points in each. A perfect five points in the following series propelled him to the top spot with a two-point lead. Vijayveer finished the final with 29 points, narrowly edging out three-time Olympian Riccardo Mazzetti (28) of Italy, while China’s Yang Yuhao (23) claimed the bronze in his first-ever international competition.
Earlier, Vijayveer shot 579 to finish third in the qualification round. Gurpreet Singh, with 575, finished 8th, while another Paris Olympian Anish Bhanwala was 11th with 570.
The 22-year-old Vijayveer had earlier won a silver at the Delhi World Cup in 2021. He had also won a bronze in 25m Standard Pistol at the Cairo World Championship in 2022.