Rudrankksh Patil, in a simulated environment, shoots better than Baku World Championships' gold medalist

Rudrankksh Patil has been training hard for the upcoming Asian Games in Hangzhou and the Paris Olympics 2024. The Indian 10m air rifle shooter, who is training in a simulated environment, recently shot better than the current ISSF World Championships winner Victor Lindgren of Sweden.

Patil was left out of the 53-member Indian squad for the World Championships at Baku. However, the Indian star was provided with the same competitive environment as the Baku World Championships at the Karni Singh Range.

The environment was realistic so that the young shooter could analyze his performance ahead of the Asian Games 2023. While talking to PTI after his training, Rudrankksh Patil said that he would benefit from this virtual training.

“I will really benefit from it during the Asian Games (at Hangzhou in September). This exercise was undertaken specially for me to get a feel of the competitive environment in Baku,” he said.

The Indian shooter, who is training in the simulated environment at his hometown, shot 630 in the qualification round. He then went on to shoot 251.9 in the final, 0.6 score better than the gold medallist Victor Lindgren. The Sweden shooter finished with a score of 251.3 to clinch the gold medal in the World Championships at Baku.

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Why Rudrankksh Patil was left out of the Indian World Shooting Championships squad?

While Patil had a good chance of winning a gold medal for the country in the ongoing Championships, India preferred to go with other shooters in order to provide them with an opportunity to win an Olympic quota.

Rudrankksh Patil has already secured his 2024 Paris Olympic quota after winning the 2022 Cairo World Championships. Usually, if an athlete has secured a quota, he would not be preferred to participate in events like the World Championships as it could help the country to secure another quota.

A maximum of two quota places per shooting discipline can be earned through Olympic qualification tournaments like the World Championships. Rudrankksh Patil has already secured one quota and India can earn another quota for the 10m air rifle men's event.