New Delhi: Army marksman and former Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist Gurpreet Singh, earned India its fifth quota place for the Rio Olympics 2016 in the 10M Air Pistol category on Sunday at the ongoing ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol in Munich, Germany. The 28-year-old Indian shooter shot a total of 154.8 to finish fourth in the Finals.

Joao Costa of Portugal who shot a total of 201.4 in the event won the gold medal. The silver and bronze medal for the event went to Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsuda and Chinese Yang Sun with scores of 200.4 and 177.3 respectively.

The event had three quota places up for grabs and Portuguese Costa had already sealed his quota place earlier hence he was not eligible for one here.


Earlier in the day Gurpreet, who has for long been under the shadows of Olympic Silver Medalist Vijay Kumar, pipped in-form Jitu Rai in the qualification round by a point to seal his place in the finals. Gurpreet has been shooting steady for a while now and it was just yesterday in the Men’s 25M Rapid Fire Pistol category, where he missed out on his quota place by the narrowest of margin finishing fourth. However destiny had it that he finally earned India its fifth quota place.

Happy with India’s performance and Gurpreet’s quota, Raninder Singh, President, NRAI said, “ Gurpreet has been working very hard off late and I am extremely happy that his hard work has resulted in India earning its fifth quota place for the Rio Olympics 2016. His back-to-back performance in two days only showcases his mental strength and the fact that he has the mettle to be amongst the best shooters in the country. I am also glad that alongside the veterans India has a very strong bench as we get close to the Rio Olympics next year.”


The other Indians to have earned India the earlier four quota places are Jitu Rai, Olympic bronze medalist Gagan Narang, Apurvi Chandela and India’s only Individual Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra.