Mahit Sandhu Wins Gold, Abhinav Deshwal Clinches Silver at World Deaf Shooting Championship

India continued its impressive run at the second World Deaf Shooting Championship in Hanover, Germany, with Mahit Sandhu and Abhinav Deshwal clinching gold and silver medals, respectively.

Mahit Sandhu won gold in the women’s 50m rifle prone event while, Abhinav Deshwal secured silver in the men’s 25m pistol.

With these victories, India’s medal count at the championship has risen to 15, comprising four gold, seven silver and four bronze medals.

This marks Sandhu’s second gold and third overall medal in the competition. Earlier, she, along with Dhanush Srikanth, claimed gold in the mixed 10m air rifle and silver in the 10m air rifle individual event. Sandhu scored 247.4 in the final, finishing 2.2 points ahead of Hungary’s Mira Biatovszki, after topping the qualification round with 617.8 points. Fellow Indian shooter Natasha Joshi placed seventh in the final.

In the men’s 25m pistol event, Deshwal narrowly missed the gold by one point in a close match with Ukraine’s Oleksandr Kolodii. Both shooters were tied at 37 after the ninth series, but Kolodii shot a perfect five in the 10th series, while Deshwal managed four. Other Indian participants, Shubham Vashist and Chetan Sapkal, finished fifth and seventh respectively.

Deshwal had also earned silver in the 10m pistol individual, mixed and team events earlier in the championship.