Divyansh Singh Panwar clinches fourth Olympic quota spot in shooting with ISSF World Cup silver

India's 17-year-old teenager Divyansh Singh Panwar on Friday secured the country's fourth Olympic quota place in shooting by winning a silver in the ISSF World Cup in Beijing. Competing in only his second senior competition, Divyansh shot a total of 249.0 in the 10m air rifle event to finish a creditable second in the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup for pistol and rifle shooters. In fact, he missed out on the gold medal by just 0.4 points, which eventually went to China's Zicheng Hui, who shot 249.4. Grigorii Shamakov of Russia settled for bronze with a score of 227.5. This is India's fourth 2020 Tokyo Olympic quota after Anjum Moudgil and Apurvi Chandela (10m air rifle women) and Saurabh Choudhary (10m Air Pistol men) had secured berths in the earlier World Cups and last year's World Championship.

Divyansh had qualified in the third position for the final with a total score of 629.2. Among the other Indians in the fray, Ravi Kumar finished 44th with a score of 624.1 while Deepak Kumar was placed 57th with 622.6. "Feeling really proud to have won a quota for my country. I have gained in experience from this final. It was very tough with proven shooters, Olympians in the fray," Divyansh said after winning the medal and quota.

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On Thursday, Divyansh partnered with Anjum Moudgil to beat the formidable Chinese pair of Liu Ruxuan and Yang Haoran 17-15 in 10m air rifle mixed team event and win the gold. This was India's third medal at the World Cup in China and they sit at the top of the medal tally. The duo of Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary had on Thursday won gold in the 10m air pistol mixed team event.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Divyansh shot a total of 249.0 in the 10m air rifle event to finish second.
• This is India's fourth 2020 Tokyo Olympic quota after Anjum Moudgil, Apurvi Chandela and Saurabh Choudhary.
• Divyansh Singh Panwar is 17 years old.