CHENNAI: Udhayveer Sidhu stole the show to capture his maiden gold medal at the ISSF World Cup, which is currently underway at Cairo, Egypt.
Taking part in the men's 10m air pistol event, Udhayveer, a three-time junior world champion — two in 25m pistol and one in 25m standard pistol, got off to a relatively slow start in the eight-man final but raised his level during the elimination stages to climb the rankings before going all the way to capture the top prize with a score of 240.6.
The Indian shooter, who has predominantly thrived at the 25m pet event in the past, edged Christian Reitz of Germany by .5 points. Paolo Monna of Italy finished with a bronze medal with a tally of 219.8.
Earlier, Udhayveer had entered the medal rounds as third-best qualifier with a total of 585. He was the lone Indian in the final. Antony Gavin was second-best during the qualifiers with a total of 586 but he was not eligible for the medal rounds as he had entered just for ranking points The other two Indians in the competition — Ajendra Singh Chauhan and Saranjot Singh — finished 14th and 31st respectively.
On Monday, Udhayveer's rifle counterparts will be in action. Arjun Babuta, Paarth Makhija and Srikanth Dhanush are the three Indians who'll be looking to challenge for podium finishes.