Tokyo Deaflympics: Anuya Breaks World Record En Route Air Pistol Gold; Pranjali Seals Silver Medal

Young Anuya Prasad gave herself a birthday present while Pranjali Prashant Dhumal added to India's joy as the duo completed a 1-2 finish in the women's 10m air pistol event at the Deaflympics, in Tokyo on Monday.

Anuya clinched the gold medal in style, breaking the Deaf Final World Record (DFWR) enroute to winning the top-podium spot, while Pranjali broke the Qualification World Record (QWR) on way to securing a place in the finals.

In men's 10m air pistol, Abhinav Deshwal, who equalled the Qualification World Record, won silver to take India's medal tally in shooting to seven after two days of competition.

On Sunday, 23-year-old Dhanush Srikanth, who trains at Olympian Gagan Narang's shooting academy in Hyderabad, had won the 10m air rifle gold.

Anuya shot 564 in the qualification round to enter the eight-shooter final placed third, while Pranjali broke the QWR with a brilliant score of 572 to top the preliminary round.

The 19-year-old Anuya was on song in the final as she amassed 241.1 and in the process set a DFWR on way to gold.

This is her second major international medal after winning gold at the Deaf World Championships in Hanover last year.

She shot 52.5 in the first series of the final and maintained her lead throughout the competition to win by a healthy 4.3-point ahead of Pranjali who finished with a score of 236.8.

Mahla Samiee of Iran won the bronze.

In the men's event, Abhinav Deshwal, gold medallist at the 2022 Deaflympics at Caxias do Sul, shot 235.2 to win the silver medal.

Korea’s Tae Young Kim won the gold with a score of 238.2 while Croatia's Boris Gramnyak won the bronze medal with a score of 215.3.

The 18-year-old Abhinav also equalled the World and Deaflympics world record in qualification, shooting a score of 576. The other Indian in the fray, Rudar Vinod Kumar finished qualification in 12th place with a score of 549.

The Air Rifle Mixed Team event will be held on Tuesday and India will look to add more medals to their tally.