Indian Teenager Smashed the 29-year-old World Record  – Rhythm Sangwan

Dear readers… In this blog, I have depicted the performances of the Indian shooters Rhythm Sangwan and other top players in the ISSF in Baku, Azerbaijan, last weekend. Rhythm, despite breaking the 29-year-old world record during the qualifying rounds, had to face the first elimination among the last eight shooters.
Rhythm Sangwan

(Rhythm Sangwan. Image credit: 

Sporting News)

ISSF World Cup, Baku, Azerbaijan: Rhythm Sangwan misses out on 25m pistol medal despite breaking a 29-year-old record world record during qualification

The 25m pistol qualification comprises two stages – precision and rapid. Shooters get 30 shots in each game, with the highest shot going to 10. On 14th May, Rhythm scored 296 in the precision stage, while she shot 299 in the rapid round.

19-year-old shooter Rhythm Sangwan shattered a 29-year-old world record in the qualification round, later missing out on a medal as she ended eighth in the world women’s 25m pistol event at the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol in Baku. Rhythm shot a dramatic 595 to top the 25m pistol qualification, erasing the world record made by Bulgarian Diana Lorgova in 1994.

Thereafter, it had been matched twice, very recently by German Doreen Vennekamp in March this year at the Bhopal World Cup. Doreen won bronze here in Baku, as China’s Feng Sixuan won the gold in the event while the Iranian Haniyeh Rostamiyan won the silver.

Diana Lorgova, 52, had scored 594 in Milan World Cup in May 1994. The Bulgarian shooter said the sport has transformed a lot since then, but she doesn’t assume this as a cause for the delay in record’s break. “I would say shooting has changed a lot, with new rules, new technology in play. But I won’t say it is more difficult now. I also don’t think that the 25m pistol is the most difficult event,” Diana explained.

(Diana Lorgova. Image credit: 

The Times of India)

She still accepts that shooting was a mental sport and it hasn’t changed in that factor. “The only difference is that we didn’t have psychological training separately. We were asked to work on our mental strength but there were no separate coaches for that. When we shot, there were so many other things that made us mentally strong. For instance, I used to attend college and shoot and it used to get very difficult to manage both, but we did,” she confessed.

Rhythm achieved on Wednesday her first individual senior World Cup medal, a bronze, in the women’s 10m air pistol here. She was the first shooter to be eliminated, with 10 hits in the first four five-shot series, in the eight-woman final.

Rhythm also smashed the junior women’s 25m pistol world record, which was established 34 years ago by Russian Nino Salukvadze who shot 593 in Zagreb at the European Championship. India’s Manu Bhaker parallelled it at the Asian Games in Jakarta in 2018. While Rhythm shot highest with her 595, teammates Esha Singh and Manu shot 582 and 578, to complete at the 13th and 27th positions.

All three Indian aspirants in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions also fell short of the main 8 mark. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar shot 586 for a 10th-place finish while Akhil Sheoran was 13th with 585 and Swapnil Kusale further back in 22nd scoring 583. 

None of the Indians could make it to the men’s rapid-fire pistol final with Vijayveer Sidhu and Anish Bhanwala scoring 580 and 579 respectively in Qualification Stage 2 and missing the six-shooter final.

Divya Subbaraju Thadigol and Sarabjot Singh had earlier snatched the only gold at the World Cup, winning the 10m air pistol mixed team event, while former junior world champion Hriday Hazarika and Haryana’s Nancy won silver in the men’s and women’s 10m air rifle games. Rhythm Sangwan made a great recovery at the back-end of the women’s 10m air pistol final to bag a bronze.

India remained second on the medals tally with one gold, two silver, and a bronze. On top was China with three gold, a silver, and two bronze medals.

-Shashi Thakur

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