The 29-year-old Jitu, Asian Games and World Championships silver-medallist, was struggling to find his rhythm after the end of the first series with a shot of 8.8.
Jitu Rai made a late surge to win India's third medal in the ongoing ISSF World Cup by clinching bronze in his favourite 10-metre air pistol event of the ISSF World Cup here at the Karni Singh Ranges on Tuesday.
Jitu was languishing towards the bottom in the final but made a remarkable recovery to shot a total of 216.7 points to come back into medal contention.
Japan's Tomoyuki Matsuda broke the world record to win gold with a 240.1 points. Vietnam's Xuan Vinh Hoang claimed silver with a total of 236.6 points.
Other Indian shooters in the fray, Omkar Singh and Amanpret Singh, failed to cross the qualification stage by finishing 14th and 19th respectively.
It was a day of setbacks for host country as Chain Singh finished 7th in the final of men's 50 rifle prone with a score of 141.9. Even 2012 London Olympic bronze medallist Gagan Narang failed to clear the qualification hurdle by finishing 15th.
The 29-year-old Jitu, Asian Games and World Championships silver-medallist, was struggling to find his rhythm after the end of the first series with a shot of 8.8. But the Armyman shot 10.6 and a 10 in the second competition series to claw back to 6th with a total of 98.7.
Two more 10s in the next kept him in the fray. But it was 10.6 shot twice, followed by 9.9 to ensure a bronze by finishing ahead of China's Zhanyi Xu (197.9). At this point, Jitu was also in hunt for the silver as he was holding 0.1 point advantage over is Vietnamese opponent.
However, an 8.6 in the next was only good enough for the bronze. Jitu was India's medal hope in 2016 Rio Games but he failed to justify the favourite tag there. However, he teamed up with Heena Sidhu a day before here on Monday to bag the 'gold badge' in 10m air pistol mixed team event.
"I didn't expect this kind of final. I was at the bottom in the final due to some bad shots. But I promised myself that I have to fight till the end. I was determined and positive. I took one shot at a time and finally it paid off," said Jitu after landing the bronze for India.
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