Rhythm, Anish Win 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Mixed Team Gold As India Top Medal Tally

India’s Rhythm Sangwan and Anish Bhanwala won the gold medal in the 25m rapid fire pistol mixed team event on the concluding day of the ISSF World Cup here on Monday.

The Indian duo emerged victorious by a margin of 17-7 over Thailand in the gold medal match.

The country thus topped the medal’s tally with four gold, two silver and one bronze as the year’s first ISSF World Cup concluded in the Egyptian capital.

On the final day of competitions, India also won a silver in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event, going down to Germany 7-17 in the title decider.

Rhythm and Anish made it through to the gold medal match after finishing second in round two of qualification with a score of 370 out of 400. Thailand’s Paduka Chawisa and Ram Khamhaeng had topped the qualification with 381 to setup the title clash with India.

Esha Singh and Bhavesh Shekhawat, the second Indian pair in the top eight stage, ended in fifth position with 356 points.

Earlier, in the 10-team qualification stage one, Rhythm and Anish had topped the field with a score of 566 out of 600, to Paduka and Ram’s 562.

Esha and Bhavesh just made it through to the next round with a score of 539 for an eighth-place finish.

In the final, where two points are awarded to the team with the highest cumulative score after each member has shot a 5-shot rapid fire series, Rhythm and Anish needed 12 rounds to cross the coveted 16-point mark required to win.

It was close in the beginning with the scores reading 7-5 in India’s favour after the first six rounds.

However, Rhythm and Anish did not lose any of the subsequent six rounds, splitting points in only two of them, to seal gold.