Sanjeev Rajput secures Olympic quota with silver

Sanjeev Rajput on Thursday won the silver medal in men's 50m rifle 3 positions event of the World Cup here, securing India's eight quotas in shooting for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The 38-year-old shot 462.0 in the eight-man finals to finish second on the podium behind Petar Gorsa of Croatia (462.2).

China's Zhang Changhong clinched the bronze. Sanjeev could have won the gold but for a poor last shot which saw him miss his second World Cup gold, after the one he had won in 2011, by a slender 0.2 point margin to Gorsa, who won the Olympic quota in air rifle.

Sanjeev had been denied a chance to compete in the Rio Olympics after his Olympic quota had been exchanged for a shotgun quota by the National Rifle Association of India. Now, Sanjeev has joined India's other quota holders Anjum Moudgil, Apurvi Chandela, Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma, Divyansh Singh Panwar, Rahi Sarnobat, and Manu Bhaker.

He had shot 392 in kneeling, 398 in prone and 390 in standing in the qualification phase, to emerge the second-best, one point behind Zhang Changhong of China. Only five shooters were eligible to win Olympic quota in the final.