New Delhi [India], November 17 (ANI): Olympian Gurpreet Singh came agonizingly close to becoming the World Champion in the 25m Centre Fire Pistol event, losing out on the gold medal on inner 10's to Ukraine's Pavlo Korostylov at the Olympic Shooting Range in Cairo, Egypt during the ISSF World Championship Rifle/Pistol on Monday.

This is Gurpreet's second individual medal in World Championships; the first one was also a silver, won back in 2018 at Changwon in the 25m Standard Pistol event. Yann Pierre Louis Fridrici of France won the bronze, as per a press release from the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).

India concluded their World Championship campaign in third place with a total of 13 medals, comprising three gold, six silver, and four bronze. Behind them were China, with 12 gold, seven silver, and two bronze medals, and South Korea, which secured seven gold, three silver, and four bronze medals.

Gurpreet shot a total of 584-18x over two days of competition in the precision and rapid stages, while Korostylov shot 29 inner 10's and a perfect score of 100 in the final rapid round to edge away with the gold medal.

The Indian shooter, who was placed ninth after the precision stage with a score of 288-8x (95,97,96), came back on the second day to shoot a brilliant score of 296-10x (98,99,99) in the rapid stage to clinch the silver medal. The Ukrainian, who was leading after the precision stage with a score of 291-14x, shot 293-15x in the rapid stage to level Gurpreet's score and win the gold.

Harpreet Singh, who was in contention for a medal after the precision stage with a score of 291-10x, which placed him in second, could only manage 286-6x in the rapid stage, which saw him eventually finish in ninth place. The other Indian shooter in the fray, Sahil Choudhary finished in 28th place with a total score of 561-14x (Precision - 272-4x, Rapid - 289 - 10x). The three shooters also finished outside the team medal places, finishing in fifth.

Samrat Rana in 10m Air Pistol, Ravinder Singh in 50m Standard Pistol and the 10m Men's Air Pistol Team won the gold medals while Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar in 50m 3 Positions Men, Anish Bhanwala in 25m Rapid Fire Pistol, Gurpreet Singh in 25m Centre Fire Pistol, Esha Singh and Samrat Rana in 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team, 10m Women's Air Pistol Team and 50m Men's Standard Pistol Team secured the silver medals. Esha Singh in 25m Sports Pistol, Elavenil Valarivan in 10m Air Rifle, Varun Tomar in 10m Air Pistol and 10m Women's Air Rifle Team won bronze medals for India. (ANI)