New Delhi, India, September 1, 2019: Yashaswini Singh Deswal won her first ever International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup gold medal in the women’s 10m Air Pistol category at the Rio de Janeiro leg on Saturday, August 31.
The 22-year-old Deswal also bagged an Olympic quota for India, becoming the second female pistol shooter after Manu Bhaker to book a place for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The composed Deswal, a former world junior champion, clinched the gold medal with a score of 236.7, pipping world number one Olena Kostevych of Ukraine who won the silver with 234.8. Serbia’s Jasmina Milavonovic bagged the bronze with 215.7.
The brilliant win will allow Deswal to join eight other Indian shooters as quota holders for the Tokyo Olympics. The others are Sanjeev Rajput, Anjum Moudgil, Apurvi Chandela, Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma, Divyansh Singh Panwar, Rahi Sarnobat and Manu Bhaker.
This is also India’s third gold in Rio, after Abhishek Verma and Elavenil Valarivan took top spot in the men’s 10m Air Pistol and women’s 10m Air Rifle respectively.