Jitu Rai Becomes First Indian Shooter to Qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympics. Bags Silver in the Men’s 50m Pistol at the World Shooting Championships in Spain

New Delhi, India, September 09, 2014: Commonwealth Games champion, Jitu Rai, has become the first Indian shooter to qualify for the Rio De Janerio 2016 Summer Olympics, after winning a Silver Medal in the Men’s 50m Pistol event at the 51^st ISSF World Championship, currently underway in Granada, Spain. The 25 year old Army marksman narrowly lost out on the Gold to South Korean Double Olympic Champion and World Record holder Jin Jingoh in a closely contested final. Jin shot a total of 192.3 over 20 shots in the Final while Jitu finished with a score of 191.1

Pang Wei of China, also an Olympic champion, finished third to settle for the Bronze, while Hoang Xuan Vinh came in fourth to bag the last Olympic quota on offer.

Jitu, currently ranked fifth in the ISSF world rankings, is having a dream year after having won the Commonwealth Games gold medal at Glasgow in July-August earlier this year. This is his fifth consecutive international medal in 2014.

Expressing immense satisfaction over Jitu’s performance, Mr. Raninder Singh, President of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), said, “ Its an extremely proud moment for us to see Jitu Rai become the first Indian athlete in all Olympic events to qualify for the Rio Olympics. We were all very confident about the way Jitu has been shooting and he has repaid our faith in an emphatic manner. We hope that this is the beginning of many more such successes in the coming days.”

Continuing the sensational show from India's shooters, Ayonika Paul stormed into the Final of the Women's 10m Air Rifle event. Ayonika the Commonwealth Games Silver medalist shot a score of 620.8 to qualify in first place for the Final, which is scheduled for 19.30 IST. There are 6 Olympic Quota places on offer in the Women's Air Rifle at the World Championship

Commonwealth Games Silver Medalist Gurpal Singh however shot 550/600 to finish 33rd while Om Prakash shot 548/600 to finish in 38th place in the 50m pistol event.

In other news of the Indian contingent, 2006 Trap World Champion Manavjit Sandhu continued his excellent start to the competition with two perfect rounds of 25 each. Manavjit has shot 100/100 in his four qualifying rounds.