Shooter Anish Bhanwala wins bronze and India's 12th Paris Olympics quota place

Shooter Anish Bhanwala fetched the quota for the Paris Games by qualifying for the final as China, Japan and Korea have already exhausted their two Olympic quotas each in the event.

New Delhi: Commonwealth Games gold medallist shooter Anish Bhanwala bagged India's 12th Paris Olympic quota in shooting as he clinched a bronze medal in the men's 25m rapid pistol fire event at the Asian Championships in Changwon, Korea on Monday. The 21-year-old from Karnal, who had 28 hits in the final, lost a shoot out to Japan's Dai Yoshioka, who won the silver medal.

Local favourite Lee Gunhyeok took home the gold. Anish Bhanwala fetched the quota for the Paris Games by qualifying for the final as China, Japan and Korea have already exhausted their two Olympic quotas each in the event.

• BRONZE! 🥉 A beaming @anish__bhanwala after finishing 3rd in the men’s rapid-fire pistol 🔫 at the 15th @Asian_Shooting championship in #Changwon 🇰🇷 He also won India’s 12th @Paris2024 quota place in #Shooting in the process. 🎉🔥🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/j2fWm5wDFh

  — NRAI (@OfficialNRAI) October 30, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  BRONZE! 🥉 A beaming @anish__bhanwala after finishing 3rd in the men’s rapid-fire pistol 🔫 at the 15th @Asian_Shooting championship in #Changwon 🇰🇷 He also won India’s 12th @Paris2024 quota place in #Shooting in the process. 🎉🔥🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/j2fWm5wDFh

  — NRAI (@OfficialNRAI) October 30, 2023

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  BRONZE! 🥉 A beaming @anish__bhanwala after finishing 3rd in the men’s rapid-fire pistol 🔫 at the 15th @Asian_Shooting championship in #Changwon 🇰🇷 He also won India’s 12th @Paris2024 quota place in #Shooting in the process. 🎉🔥🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/j2fWm5wDFh

  — NRAI (@OfficialNRAI) October 30, 2023

Apart from Anish Bhanwala, all the other shooters who made it to the final were from China, Japan and Korea. Bhanwala shot 588 to finish third in the qualification stage and move to the final. Another Indian competing in the event, Bhavesh Shekhawat shot 584 to be among the top-eight in the qualification but could not enter the final as he was competing for ranking points only (RPO). He was not eligible for the final.

Earlier, shooter Manu Bhaker had bagged the fifth place in the women's 25 meter pistol event and secured 11th 2024 Paris Olympics quota for country.