New Delhi: Indian shooter Udhayveer Sidhu secured the gold medal in the men's 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup Rifle and Pistol stage on Sunday, defeating German Olympic medallist Christian Reitz by 0.5 points in Cairo, Egypt. Udhayveer posted a final score of 240.6 to capture the top podium finish, while Reitz took the silver medal with a score of 240.1. Italy's Paolo Monna rounded out the podium by claiming bronze with 219.8 points, as confirmed by the National Rifle Association of India.
The gold medal battle came down to the wire during the closing stages of the final. Udhayveer managed to overturn a deficit over the final two shots when he trailed Reitz by 0.3 points. The Indian competitor delivered scores of 10.2 and 9.8 under pressure, whereas Reitz recorded consecutive scores of 9.6 on his final attempts, allowing Udhayveer to surge ahead and clinch the victory.
Udhayveer advanced to the eight-man title round after qualifying in fourth position with an aggregate score of 585 featuring 19 inner tens across six qualification series. He began his qualification round with scores of 99 and 98 before following up with consistent marks of 98, 97, 97, and 96.
In other Indian qualification performances, Jonathan Gavin Antony competed in the Ranking Points Only category and registered a score of 586, matching the highest qualification mark set by Monna. Ajendra Singh Chauhan finished 14th overall with a total of 580, and Olympic medallist Sarabjot Singh placed 31st with 574 points. Kumar Yogesh, also shooting in the RPO bracket, finished with 573.
International competitors also featured prominently in the final, with Turkey's Paris 2024 Olympic medallist Yusuf Dikec finishing seventh with 138.0 points. Greece's Georgios Gampierakis placed fourth with 198.7, and Latvia's Emils Vasermanis ended the event in fifth position with 177.6 points.
Udhayveer's victory is part of India's ongoing campaign at the ISSF World Cup in Cairo, which takes place from October 8 to 16. A 24-member Indian contingent, featuring experienced veterans and younger athletes alongside Olympic bronze medallists Swapnil Suresh Kusale and Sarabjot Singh, is participating across eight individual Olympic disciplines and two mixed team events.