PUNE: Rudrankksh Patil couldn’t have asked for a better closure to the 2022 season, as the Thane shooter ended the calendar by winning gold at the ISSF President’s Cup in Cairo, Egypt, on Friday.
Rudrankksh defeated Italy’s Danilo Sollazzo 16-08 in the men’s 10m air rifle final. Rudrankksh had a successful year as he had won junior World Cup gold and then became the World Champion in his event at the same venue in October. Incidentally, Sollazzo was the silver medallist on both occasions.
The President’s Cup is a prestigious year-ender event, where top 12 shooters in each category participate on invitation. Rudrankksh said he gained a lot of confidence by shooting with the best.
“After the World Championships, I was shooting with the cream of the cream here. It was a good learning experience and a confidence booster,” Rudrankksh told TOI.
Talking about his successful year, the shooter said the world title gave him and his team the direction they were looking for. “It isn’t that I have not been shooting well or lacked confidence. We were doing everything that we could, but winning gold at the World championships gave us the direction we were looking for. After that medal, we got some reference and knew what all to do at this level of competition. Having said that, it is an ongoing process and things keep changing as our body changes,” Rudrankksh said.
The World champion shot an impressive score of 632.1 in the qualifications and then shot 211.7 in the ranking round to qualify for the semifinals. He scored a 16-10 win over Slovakia’s Patrik Jany to qualify for the gold medal match.
Rudrankksh is the only shooter after Gagan Narang to win gold at the year-ender meet in men’s 10m air rifle men category.
