Jitu Rai makes country proud, wins ISSF Pistol Champions Trophy

India's ace pistol shooter Jitu Rai made the country proud yet again when he won the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Champions Trophy.

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 were held at the end of the World Cup Final, competitions for which ended on Sunday at the TSN Shooting Range in Bologna, Italy.

All 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 an 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 determine the winner.