ISSF World Championships: India’s Anish Bhanwala wins bronze men’s 25m rapid fire pistol

India’s Anish Bhanwala secured the country’s fifth medal at the ongoing Shooting World Championships after clinching the bronze medal in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event on Sunday in Cairo, Egypt.

The 23-year-old prevailed in four shoot-offs enroute his maiden individual World Championships medal.

The Indian ended with a score of 28 at the end of eight series, just behind gold medal-winner Clement Bessaguet’s (France) score of 29. Uraine’s Maksym Horodynets clinched bronze with 25.

Bhanwala entered the final in good stead after finishing qualification in second place (585 – 22x) — behind Bessaguet’s 589 – 21x — and finished with 16 out of 20 after the end of the first four series.

He was forced into his first shoot-off after getting just two shots on target in the sixth series. Up against Germany’s Emanuel Mueller, both shooters got three on target, taking it to another shoot-off. Bhanwala’s four out of five was enough to assure him of at least a bronze medal.

At the end of the seventh series, Bhanwala found himself staring at his third shoot-off of the final, this time against Horodynets. After both shooters shot four, the Indian pipped the Ukrainian in his fourth shoot-off to upgrade his medal’s colour.

Earlier this year, Bhanwala had also won the silver medal at the Asian Shooting Championships in the same event in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.

Published on Nov 09, 2025