New Delhi’s shooting prodigy Anish Bhanwala added another feather to his cap, clinching a bronze medal in the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol event at the Asian Rifle/Pistol Championship. The Olympian and world championship silver medalist showcased his precision under pressure on the eighth day of the competition at Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range.
Kazakhstan dominated the day, sweeping four gold medals, but India refused to be overshadowed. Adrian Karmarkar struck gold in the junior men’s 50m rifle prone event, while the junior men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol team also triumphed. These victories propelled India’s medal tally to an impressive 41 golds, 19 silvers, and 15 bronzes, with two days of competition still remaining.
In the intense rapid-fire pistol final, Anish and teammate Adarsh Singh qualified with scores of 574 and 573, securing seventh and eighth spots respectively. Kazakhstan’s Nikita Chiryukin led qualifiers with a stellar 582, setting the stage for a fierce battle.
Japan’s double Olympian Dai Yoshioka and Vietnam’s Ha Minh Than advanced alongside teammates, making it a multinational showdown. The final featured eight series of five rapid-fire shots each. Yoshioka, Anish, and Chiryukin surged ahead early, eliminating Woo Tien and Kazakh Artemiy Kabakov after the third series.
Adarsh bowed out after the fourth series with 11 hits, leaving Anish in joint lead with Yoshioka and Chiryukin after the sixth series at 21 hits. But the seventh round proved decisive—Yoshioka nailed five hits, Chiryukin four, while Anish managed two, settling for bronze with 23 hits total.
Yoshioka shattered records with a perfect final five, finishing at 31 hits to claim gold and improve on his Changwon performance. Chiryukin took silver with 28 hits.
Earlier, Kazakh rifle ace Islam Satpayev, Paris Olympics mixed team bronze winner, dazzled in the 50m rifle prone men’s event. He won individual gold with 622.5 and teamed with Nikita Shakhtorin (622.5 silver) and Konstantin Malinovski (615.0) for team gold.
India responded strongly with Babu Singh Panwar’s 621.3 for individual bronze, and team silver alongside Samveer Singh (618.2) and Sartaj Singh Tiwana (614.4).
In junior men’s rifle prone, Adrian Karmarkar dominated with 621.7 over 60 shots for gold. Kazakhstan’s Oleg Noskov (620.6) and Tamerlan Kabulov (617.3) took silver and bronze, with their team edging India 1848.7 to 1847.6 for gold.
The day closed with Indonesia’s Muhammad Fawaz Aditya Farrell winning junior men’s 25m RFP gold at 29 hits. India’s Suraj Sharma earned silver (23 hits), Mukesh Nelavalli bronze (19 hits), and the team gold with 1729 points alongside Sahil Chaudhary (575), outpacing Kazakhstan’s 1613.