Divyansh Singh Panwar wins bronze in men's 10m air rifle, opens India's tally

World number one Divyansh Singh Panwar opened India's medals tally with a bronze in the men's 10m air rifle on the second competition day of the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi on Saturday.

The 18-year-old Divyansh shot 228.1 to finish third on the podium at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range.

The other Indian participant in the final, Arjun Babuta, finished in fifth place after three scores below 10 in the eight-man final.


American Lucas Kozeniesky claimed the gold medal with 249.8, while Istvan Peni of Hungaria bagged silver with 249.7.

A 10.6 and 10.3 in the seventh series saw Divyansh survive elimination as Sergey Richter of Israel fell behind.

Divyansh, a Tokyo Olympic quota holder, shot 10.6 before bowing out with the bronze medal.

The win will do a world of good to the Jaipur-based Divyansh's confidence as he braces for the Tokyo Games. He was placed sixth in the 60-shot qualification with a total of 629.1 while Babuta was third with 631.8.

In the final, Babuta had one 9.9 in the first series followed by another 9.9 and 9.7 in the second. Under pressure, the 22-year-old Babuta began the fourth series with one more 9.9 before being eliminated at fifth place with 185.5.