India won their first medal of the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup Rifle/Pistol in Cairo, Egypt, when 19-year-old Varun Tomar bagged bronze in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol competition, at the Egypt International Olympic City range.
Varun, competing on day one of competitions, got the better of teammate Sarabjot Singh in a shoot-off after both had tied for third spot with a score of 250.6 in the ranking round. Seasoned Slovakian shooter Juraj Tuzinsky defeated upcoming Italian talent Paolo Monna 17-15, to win gold in the event.
Earlier, Varun had shot 583 in qualification to make the ranking round in second place, while Sarabjot had shot 581 to qualify fifth. Juraj also topped qualification with a score of 585.
In the Ranking match, Paolo topped with 254.2 to setup the gold medal clash with Juraj, who finished second with 252.8, ahead of the two Indians as names like 50-year-old Turkish veteran Yusuf Dikec, fell by the wayside.
This was the young Tomar’s first senior ISSF World Cup stage medal.