New Delhi: Indian Olympian Divyansh Singh Panwar showcased exceptional rifle shooting skills, clinching a gold medal and setting a new world record in the men’s 10m air rifle final at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Cairo, Egypt.
The 21-year-old prodigy achieved a remarkable score of 253.7 at the Egypt International Olympic City Shooting range on Sunday, surpassing the previous record of 253.3 set by Chinese shooter Sheng Lihao at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year. Divyansh had demonstrated his prowess earlier by topping the qualification with an impressive 632.4 points, and he continued his stellar performance in the 24-shot final, leaving Italian Dani Sollazo 1.9 points behind to secure the silver.
Remarkably, Divyansh didn’t register any score below 10 throughout the final, achieving two perfect 10.9s in the fourth and sixth shots. Expressing his joy, he said, “I am happy to win gold after a long time. I had been shooting well in recent times but was missing out. This will surely give me confidence coming into an important year.”
The victory marked Divyansh’s fifth overall World Cup stage gold and his second individual gold since his last triumph in Putian in 2019. With this accomplishment, India now leads the standings at the first ISSF World Cup stage of the Olympic year, securing two gold medals and two silver medals. The second Indian in the final, Arjun Babuta, finished in sixth place.