Rahi Sarnobat became the first Indian pistol shooter to win a gold medal in the ISSF World Cup. She beat Kyeongae Kim 8-6 in the final of the 25m pistol event in Changwon, Korea.
With the record, Rahi joined the elite club of rifle shooters – Anjali Bhagwat, Gagan Narang, Sanjeev Rajput, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Ronjan Sodhi and Manavjit Singh Sandhu.
She had qualified for the semi-final stage in fourth position with a total score of 585. She sealed her final berth as the second best semi-finalist with 15 points. Her rival Kim had topped the standings with 16 points.
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According to the new game rules, top eight players from the preliminaries qualify for the semi-finals where points are given according to the number of inner 10s scored by a shooter in each series of five shots.
The top two shooters qualify for the final, while the third and fourth-placed shooters face each other for the Bronze medal.
A player gets two points in the seven points final for winning the series, while a point each is given if both the shooters are tied.
After two tied series, Rahi struggled a lot after Kim hit back winning the next two series. However, she did not lose her hope. Kim lost the sixth and seventh series 3-1 and 2-1 respectively in the final. Finally, Rahi won the gold in the event.