When 18-year-old Rudrankksh Patil defeated Arjun Babuta for the National Games gold two weeks ago, he was in disbelief having outplayed the World Cup gold medallist in the final. On Friday, the Thane teen clinched gold in the men’s 10m air rifle at the ISSF World Championships in Cairo. In the process, Rudrankksh became only the second Indian world champion in the 10m air rifle category after Abhinav Bindra, who won gold in 2006.
Rudrankksh is overall the sixth world champion shooter from India. Among them, only Bindra went on to win an Olympics medal. Rudrankksh’s gold has also resulted in him winning a quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics.