Indian pistol shooter Samrat Rana's showing at the World Championships in Cairo last month has been rated among the top five performances of the year by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF).
The 20-year-old marksman from Karnal in Haryana made history by winning the men's 10m air pistol gold at the Worlds, becoming the first Indian to clinch a senior individual world title in the event.
The ace shooter, whose journey began when his father built him a basic shooting range in their backyard, also bagged the mixed team silver with multiple Asian medallist Esha Singh in his favourite event at the same venue.
"The only man to defeat Hu Kai of China this season, Samrat Rana was composed under pressure to pull off an upset no one expected," said the ISSF, while revealing the top-five performers of the season.
"The 20-year-old had a narrow lead in the men's 10m air pistol final at the ISSF World Championship and would be closely matched by Hu, before the Chinese took the lead with six shots to go. Two consecutive series featuring 10.9s would keep him in the hunt. He would go ahead of Hu, but then behind again by 0.1 into the last two shots. A 10.2 and 10.6 would give him the lead and ultimately, the victory. A superb run of form," ISSF wrote.
The 23-year-old Hu Kai has been in amazing form this season and pushing him to silver on the biggest shooting stage was quite an achievement. India's Varun Tomar, from Baghpat district in Uttar Pradesh, had taken the bronze in the event, making it two podium finishes for India in an event at the Worlds, which was another first.
Hu Kai, the World No.1 in air pistol, took sweet revenge in the season-ending ISSF World Cup Final in Doha to win gold, pushing World No. 6 Samrat to bronze. Hu also figured among ISSF's top-five performers, for a near-world record score in his ISSF World Cup victory in Lima earlier this year.
The 23-year-old came within 0.1 point of Korea's Kim Song-Guk's mark set in 2019. He also had an amazing run in the ISSF World Cups, winning six gold, and closed the season with the elite World Cup Final top-podium spot in Doha earlier this month.
Also read: India clinch six medals at ISSF World Cup
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