After winning bronze medal in the men’s 25m Rapid Fire final at the ISSF World Cup final in Doha, the 21-year-old Anish Bhanwala had one of the best moments when he received the congratulatory message from Rio Olympic champion Christian Reitz. 

The German didn’t make the six-shooter final, but was watching the action unfold intently.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Anish stated, “Like any other shooter, I idolise Christian Reitz. Earlier this year, when I had won my first senior World Cup medal in Cairo, he had finished fourth and that time too, he had congratulated me. To win a medal here in the World Cup Final feels surreal,” 

Bhanwala became the first Indian shooter to win a medal in the event in the World Cup Final. Earlier Vijay Kumar had reached the final in 2009 while Gurpreet Singh had reached the final in 2015.

On Friday, Anish was the last to qualify for the six-shooter final as he shot a score of 581. Fifth-placed world number one and two-time Olympic bronze medalist Yuehong Li of China shot 586 and the world number three German Florian Peter topped the qualification field of the world’s top 16 shooters with a score of 587.