Rudrankksh edges Haonan for 10m air rifle bronze in a thriller

In the women’s event, Ramita was the only Indian to make the final

Rudrankksh Patil may have the Indian shooting fraternity dreaming of an Olympic medal once again, but the reigning 10m air rifle world champion, after what transpired during the ISSF World Cup here on Friday, is certainly going to appear in Yu Haonan’s nightmares for quite some time now.

Haonan had held on to the third spot from the close of the first series in the 10m AR ranking round, never losing his place to any shooter in the field. Until, of course, Rudrankksh rediscovered his mojo to eventually claim the bronze medal.

The Thane lad had got off to a horrid start, registering a 9.9 and 10.1 in the very first series. There was a collective gasp from the crowd, unaccustomed to seeing Rudrankksh shoot a low 10, let alone a nine-pointer. Last October, Rudrankksh’s lowest score in the entirety of the GM match at the World Championships was a 10.3!

The two poor hits saw him tally only 51.5 at the end of the first set of five shots; he was seventh then. Hriday Hazarika, the other finalist from India, shot 52.1 and moved two places clear of the danger zone.

After the second series, Rudrankksh was still seventh and struggling. But he had managed to score 0.9 more than the last set. The third series saw him fetch 52.3 and move to fifth, one spot below his compatriot.

After 20 shots, Rudrankksh had jumped to the fourth spot with an epic series worth 53.5. Although India lost Hazarika next, loud cheers rent the air for Rudrankksh had just slipped past Haonan.

The cries of “India, India” clearly got into the head of the 23-year-old China shooter as he ended up shooting a 9.5 in the last series.