Shooter Vijayveer Sidhu clinches 17th Paris Olympics spot for India

India`s Vijayveer Sidhu (Pic: AFP)

India's Vijayveer Sidhu clinched a 17th Paris Games quota place for the country while clinching a silver medal in the men's 25m rapid-fire event at the Asia Olympic Qualifiers here on Saturday.

The 21-year-old team bronze-medallist at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year joins senior country-mate Anish Bhanwala in securing a Paris berth in the 25m rapid fire.

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Anish had bagged the Olympic quota with a bronze medal in the Asian Championship in Changwon, Korea, last year. Vijayveer did not have to wait for a medal to secure a quota place. He earned it by qualifying for the final in fourth place with a score of 577.

Four out of the six finalists on Saturday were eligible for quota places and the youngster, who hails from Chandigarh, did it in style by shooting 28 in the elimination round to clinch silver behind Kazakhstan's Nikita Chiryukin, who shot 32 for the gold medal.

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Rapid-fire pistol is traditionally a strong event for India as Vijay Kumar had bagged a silver at the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Before the 2020 Olympics, Anish had looked like a strong contender to book a Tokyo berth but had missed out during the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi in 2021.

If both Vijayveer and Anish get the opportunity to represent the country at the Paris Olympics, it will be the first such instance in the rapid-fire shooting.

Indian shooters have so far bagged four Paris Olympics quota places in Jakarta, with Esha Singh (women's 10m air pistol), Varun Tomar (men's 10m air air pistol), Rhythm Sangwan (women's 25m sports pistol) besides Vijayveer nailing the spots here.

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