Following in Abhinav Bindra's footsteps, new world champion Rudrankksh Patil says 'it took time to sink in'

Cairo. In the process, Rudrankksh became only the second Indian world champion in the 10m air rifle category after Abhinav Bindra, who won gold in 2006. Rudrankksh is overall the sixth world champion shooter from India. Among them, only Bindra went on to win an Olympics medal. Rudrankksh’s gold has also resulted in him winning a quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Rudrankksh, lovingly known as Sai at home, is the eldest child of Balasaheb Patil, SP Palghar. His mother, Hemangini, is a regional transport officer at Vashi in Navi Mumbai. With that kind of background, rigour and discipline are qualities that have been imbibed well.

During meets, Hemangini monitors his diet and keeps an eye on his practice schedules. On Friday, he defeated Italy’s Danilo Dennis Sollazzo 17-13 in the final of 10m air rifle competition of World Championships in Cairo. In the ranking round, he left behind former world champ and Tokyo bronze medallist from China, Yang Haoran, and Tokyo silver medallist Lihao Sheng. Tokyo gold medallist William Shaner of USA couldn’t make it to the top 8. Rudrankksh qualified for the top-8 after shooting 633.9, a World Championships record. As per the new rules, the international shooting body ISSF has done away with world records. They now have venues, World Championships and Olympics records instead. It took almost 10 minutes for Rudrankksh to realise what his achievement meant.

“It took time to sink in. I was so involved in the match that it took me almost 5-10 minutes to feel some emotion,” the junior World Championships silver medallist told TOI from Cairo. He admitted that he was under pressure because of the big names in the field, but he trusted his process. “The names can put you under pressure, but I