Jitu Rai Wins the ISSF Pistol Champions Trophy

New Delhi, Oct 10, 2016: India’s Pistol Shooting ace and Khel Ratna awardee Jitu Rai, did the country proud yet again when he won the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Champions Trophy in the Pistol segment.  Jitu beat Serbia’s Damir Mikec, 29.6 to 28.3 in the final, held in the 10m Air Pistol finals format to claim the Euro 5000 cash award which comes with the title. The ISSF Rifle Champions Trophy was claimed by Russia’s Sergey Kamenskiy.

The Champions Trophy matches, sponsored by the ISSF’s official results provider SIUS, were held at the end of the 2016 ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup Final, competitions for which ended on Sunday at the TSN Shooting Range in Bologna, Italy. All ISSF World Final medalists in the Men’s and Women’s events are eligible to participate in the Champions Trophy and are allowed to choose between a 10m Air Rifle and 10m Air Pistol match. The matches are then conducted in elimination format, where after the first four shots the athlete with the lowest score is first to be eliminated. One athlete is subsequently eliminated after each shot thereafter till the final two athletes remain. Their scores are then set back to zero and three single shots then determine the winner.

The President of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), Mr. Raninder Singh, congratulated Jitu on his latest achievement saying, “Jitu Rai is in a league of his own in the world of Pistol shooting and the Champions Trophy win reiterates his versatility as a shooter. On behalf of the NRAI, we congratulate him on his latest success and wish him all the best in continuing to bring laurels for the country.”

The Champions Trophy win becomes even more creditable, given Jitu’s best event is the 50m Pistol.