Veteran army marksman Ravinder Singh brought India glory on the opening day of the ISSF World Championships (Pistol/Rifle) clinching the individual gold and team silver in 50m free pistol, here on Saturday. This is the biggest achievement for the 29-year-old Havildar in the Indian Army, who hails from Bishnah town in Jammu & Kashmir, after he had won an individual bronze in the 2023 edition of the Worlds in Baku.
Ravinder, who has been in and out of the India squad since 2019, shot a superb 569 in the non-Olympic event to take the top podium finish ahead of Kim Cheongyong of South Korea, who shot 556, and Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) Anton Aristarkhov (556) who settled for the bronze. The National Games silver medallist in 10m air pistol earlier this year, started with a low score of 93 but gathered momentum to score 98, 94, 95, 93 and 96 in the next five rounds to aggregate 569 in a field of 47 shooters.
The Indian team, comprising Ravinder (569), Kamaljeet (540) and and Yogesh Kumar (537), took the silver with an aggregate of 1646. South Korea totalled 1648 to win the gold medal, while Ukraine took the bronze with a combined total of 1644. A total of 11 teams were in the fray.
