Udhayveer Sidhu wins men's 10m air pistol gold at ISSF World Cup in Cairo

Indian shooter Udhayveer Sidhu won the gold medal in the men's 10m air pistol event at the ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup on Sunday. He scored 240.6 in the final and beat Germany's veteran shooter Christian Reitz by 0.5 points. Reitz has won Olympic medals several times.

The 24-year-old produced a strong performance in the final. Reitz finished with the silver medal on 240.1, while Italy's Paolo Monna took the bronze with 219.8.

Sidhu kept his composure in the last stage of the final and shot accurately. Before the last two shots he was 0.3 points behind Reitz. He then scored 10.2 and 9.8 in those two shots, while Reitz managed only 9.6 on each. That gave Sidhu the gold.

In the qualification round before the final, Sidhu scored 99, 98, 98, 97, 97 and 96 in the six series. His total of 585 placed him fourth and earned him a place in the eight-shooter final.

India's Jonathan Gavin Antony shot 586 in qualification to finish joint first, although he was competing only for ranking points. Indian shooter Ajendra Singh Chauhan finished 14th with 580. Olympic medallist Sarabjot Singh was 31st with 574. Kumar Yogesh, who competed in the RPO category, scored 573.

Turkey's Yusuf Dikec, a medallist at the Paris 2024 Olympics, had also reached the final but had to settle for seventh place with 138.0. Greece's Georgios Gampierakis was fourth with 198.7 and Latvia's Emils Vasermanis fifth with 177.6.

The ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup is being held in Cairo from October 8 to 16, 2026. India has sent a 24-member team. Before the tournament, Indian shooters took part in a national training camp at the Maharana Pratap Sports College in Dehradun from October 1 to 7. The camp focused on match practice and improving technical skills. India is fielding shooters in eight individual Olympic events and two mixed team events.