Indian shooter Anish Bhanwala on April 13 became the youngest ever Indian to bag a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. He is just a 15-year-old.
Anish created a history after he took top honours in the Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol competition at the 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.
Anish scored 30 points in the finals to finish two points ahead of Australia’s Sergei Evglevski.
Sam Gowin of England scored 17 to take the bronze medal. Neeraj Kumar, the other Indian in the fray, finished fifth in the six-man final with a score of 13.
Coached by former India star Jaspal Rana, the Haryana lad has been going through a superb run of form in recent months.
He set a new junior world record of 579 out of a possible 600 on his way to clinching the gold medal in the 25m Standard Pistol competition at the at the 2017 ISSF Junior World Championships in Suhl, Germany.
Earlier on Friday, Anish and Neeraj topped the qualification stage to enter the final in style.
Anish took the pole position with 580 points while Neeraj came second with 579.
Many prominent personalities like Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Abhinav Bindra among others took to Twitter to congratulate the young boy for making India proud. Here are some of the reactions:
Unbelievable- #AnishBhanwala at just 15 years of age wins a Gold in 25 m rapid pistol. Congratulations Anish.
Also many congratulations to#TejaswiniSawant for the GOLD _ & #AnjumMoudgil for the SILVER_in Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event. #GC2018 pic.twitter.com/VcvTpOKjkD— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) 13 April 2018
15 years of age and already shooting for the stars! Congratulations Anish Bhanwala for bagging India another gold medal! _ #GC2018 #CommonwealthGames2018
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) 13 April 2018
Congratulations to Anish Bhanwala for being the youngest Indian to win a gold at the CWG. Proud of you! #GC2018 #CommonwealthGames2018
— Anil Kumble (@anilkumble1074) 13 April 2018
The brightest stars for me @GC2018 have been #ManuBhaker and #AnishBhanwala . To win gold medals at their debut games at such a young age is indeed special.
— Abhinav Bindra OLY (@Abhinav_Bindra) 13 April 2018
Medals Tally
India is currently no. 3, with 17 gold, 11 silver and 14 bronze in their kitty.
Seema Punia – Women’s Discus Throw – Silver
Navjeet Dhillon – Women’s Discus Throw – Bronze
Mixed Event- Badminton- Gold
Hussamuddin Mohammed – Boxing, Men’s 56kg – Bronze
Manoj Kumar – Boxing, Men’s 66kg – Bronze
Naman Tanwar- Boxing, Men’s 91 kg – Bronze
Sachin Chaudhary – Men’s Heavyweight – Bronze
Jitu Rai – Men’s 10m Air Pistol – Gold
Anish – Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol – Gold
Manu Bhaker -Women’s 10m Air Pistol- Gold
Heena Sidhu – Women’s 25m Pistol – Gold
Tejaswini Sawant – Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions – Gold
Shreyasi Singh – Women’s Double Trap – Gold
Heena Sidhu – Women’s 10m Air Pistol – Silver
Mehuli Ghosh – Women’s 10m Air Rifle – Silver
Anjum Moudgil – Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions – Silver
Tejaswini Sawant – Women’s 50m Rifle Prone- Silver
Om Mitharval – Men’s 10m Air Pistol – Bronze
Ravi Kumar – Men’s 10m Air Rifle – Bronze
Om Mitharval – Men’s 50m Pistol – Bronze
Ankur Mittal – Men’s Double Trap – Bronze
Apurvi Chandela – Women’s 10m Air Rifle – Bronze
Men’s Team – TT- Gold
Women’s Team – TT- Gold
Batra Manika/Das Mouma -Women’s Doubles- Silver
Sathish Kumar – Weightlifting, Men’s 77kg -Gold
Venkat Rahul – Men’s 85kg -Gold
Chanu Saikhom – Women’s 48kg – Gold
Sanjita Chanu – Women’s 53kg – Gold
Punam Yadav – Women’s 69kg – Gold
Pardeep Singh – Men’s 105kg – Silver
Gururaja – Men’s 56kg- Silver
Deepak Lather – Men’s 69kg – Bronze
Vikas Thakur – Men’s 94kg – Bronze
Rahul Aware – Men’s Freestyle 57 kg – Gold
Bajran Punia – Men’s Freestyle 65 kg – Gold
Sushil Kumar – Men’s Freestyle 74 kg- Gold
Mausam Khatri – Men’s Freestyle 97 kg – Silver
Babita Kumari – Women’s Freestyle 53 kg – Silver
Pooja Dhanda – Women’s Freestyle 57 kg -Silver
Divya Kakran – Women’s Freestyle 68 kg -Bronze
Kiran – Women’s Freestyle 76 kg- Bronze
