Pardini Rapid Fire Cup: Vijayveer Sidhu bags silver in 2nd competition ahead of Paris 2024 Olympics

Paris Olympics-bound pistol shooter Vijayveer Sidhu made a strong comeback to secure the silver medal in the second competition of the Pardini Rapid Fire Cup on Wednesday, July 10, in Suhl, Germany.

Initially, in the first competition, he erred in the qualification round and couldn’t make it to the final. Anish Bhanwala secured the gold medal in the first competition, scoring 35 out of 40 shots in the final to display exemplary domination.

However, tables turned drastically as Vijayveer Sidhu had an exceptional outing in both the qualification round and the final in the second competition as he went on to clinch the silver medal. However, Anish Bhanwala suffered a poor outing in the qualification round.

Moving to the details of the qualification round, Vijayveer scored 586 with 21 X-shots to emerge as the fourth-best shooter and advance to the final. On the other hand, Anish Bhanwala managed to score only 578 with 16 X-shots, finishing with the 18th shot.

In the final, Vijayveer continued his good performance, scoring 29 out of 40 shots as he managed two 5s, three 4s and two 3s. France's Clement Bessaguet scored 32 to emerge as the winner while Germany's Emanuel Muller settled for the bronze medal with 27 shots.

Interestingly, in the first competition, France's Clement secured the bronze medal with 28 shots. In the two competitions combined, he clinched two medals - bronze in the first and gold in the second.

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Vijayveer Sidhu secured Paris 2024 quota at the Asian Shooting Championships

It’s important to note that Vijayveer Sidhu secured the silver medal in the 25m rapid-fire pistol event at the Asian Shooting Championships 2024 in January 2024 in Jakarta, Indonesia, to secure his Paris Olympics 2024 quota.

On the other hand, Anish Bhanwala obtained the other quota in the 25m rapid-fire pistol event at the 2023 Asian Championships in Changwon.

After taking the best three average of their excellent performances in four Olympic Selection Trials held in Delhi and Bhopal recently, both Vijayveer Sidhu and Anish Bhanwala made the cut for the Paris Olympics 2024, scheduled to start on July 26.

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