Cairo: India’s Udhayveer Sidhu clinched the gold medal in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol on Sunday.
The 24-year-old produced a determined performance in the medal match to finish with a score of 240.6. He edged past Germany’s multi-Olympic medallist Christian Reitz by 0.5 points in a dramatic finish. Reitz secured the silver medal with a tally of 240.1. Italy’s Paolo Monna took bronze with 219. 8.
Udhayveer held his nerve during the closing elimination stages. Trailing Reitz by 0.3 points going into the final two shots, the Indian fired 10.2 and 9.8. Reitz recorded twin scores of 9.6, handing Udhayveer victory on the final shot.
Earlier in the day, Udhayveer qualified for the eight-man final in fourth position. He posted a total of 585 across six series (99, 98, 98, 97, 97, 96).
India’s Jonathan Gavin Antony, competing for Ranking Points Only (RPO), shot an impressive 586 to tie for the top score in qualification with Monna. Among the other Indian participants in the field, Ajendra Singh Chauhan finished 14th with a score of 580. Olympic medallist Sarabjot Singh placed 31st with 574, while Kumar Yogesh posted 573 in the RPO section.
The final also featured Turkey’s Paris 2024 Olympic medallist Yusuf Dikec, who finished seventh with 138.0. Greece’s Georgios Gampierakis placed fourth on 198.7, followed by Latvia’s Emils Vasermanis in fifth position with 177.6.
The ISSF World Cup is being held from October 8 to October 16, 2026, in which India has sent a 24-member team. The squad travelled to Cairo after completing an intensive national camp in Dehradun. The camp was held from October 1 to October 7, 2026, at the Maharana Pratap Sports College. Shooters spent the week working on match simulations and fine-tuning technical routines. India is competing across eight individual Olympic disciplines and two mixed team events.
(IANS)
