"VAN" (Sports Desk - 18.10.2025) :: The Croatian showed experience to be better than youth on the day, holding off Spain's Andres Garcia following a stunning second-half performance, meaning he now has Olympic, world and European titles. 48-year-old Indian athlete Zoravar Singh Sandhu delivered a great underdog performance for his best result of his career for the bronze medal, 27 years on from his previous best result at the World Championship.
The Final
The Glasnovic family would have been feeling elated heading into the battle for the medals as big brother Anton finished ahead of younger brother Josip in a Croatian one-two to make the top six. Spain's hopes lied with Andres Garcia, the 21-year-old who just missed the final two years ago and came in as the reigning world junior champion.
Notably, four athletes were over the age of 40 - the Glasnovics, France's Antonin Desert and India's Zoravar Singh Sandhu. The latter is 48 years old, making him 27 years Garcia's senior. American William Hinton, who placed fourth in 2023, was the other contender, having won the ISSF World Cup leg in Lima earlier this year.
Tough start for Glasnovic brothers as Garcia takes lead in first half
Anton Glasnovic was on top in qualification and held the first bib and he required that superior seeding as the final would not be a straightforward affair for him. In the third series, his solid shooting turned awry with three misses and would bring him from the near the front to flirting with an earlier elimination. He finished with 20 from his first 25.
Josip cleared 11 in a row to take the lead and had 14 from 15. However, these were followed by two series in a row where he missed two shots each, also bringing him onto 20.
Despite an earlier miss of two targets, Andres Garcia then struck 14 consecutive targets successfully and took the lead on 22. His two-shot lead saw him in front of the Glasnovics, as well as Zoravar Singh Sandhu, while Antonin Desert had a total of 19. This meant William Hinton would be the first to exit the competition. After a solid start of nine from 10, he missed more than half of his next 15, scoring 16.
Andres Garcia nearly became a back-to-back world champion across junior and senior ranks
Glasnovic double podium dream ends following Anton adieu
Many looked ahead of the final with hopes to see Anton and Josip Glasnovic finally share the podium. Across their individual podiums, the brothers have never stood together outside of team competition.
For Croatians, that dream would end as Anton struggled to find momentum over his next 10 shots. A double miss following Hinton's elimination made it an uphill task from there on. He was saved by his top bib number as Antonin Desert would exit in fifth. Anton would record another double miss, effectively ending all hopes of making the top three.
This was made harder by Zoravar Singh Sandhu performing well, scoring nine of his next 10 while Andres Garcia lost his lead with four misses in a row. Fortunately, he was far enough ahead that he would sit on 28 to Anton Glasnovic's 26.
Josip Glasnovic's fine form returned at the right moment, as he missed just once in his next 10 to go ahead on 29, tied with Sandhu.
Josip Glasnovic was consistent in the second-half of the final to confirm the gold medal
Josip Glasnovic second-half superiority brings gold home for Croatia
With the medallists decided, only one shot separated the three. On paper, Glasnovic would be the favourite over his two underdog rivals - and he made certain of that prediction after missing just one of his second 25 targets.
Garcia had chased back to Glasnovic well, still sitting one shot behind him going into the final 10 after overtaking Sandhu, who could only score twice compared to his foes' five.
What could have become a storyteller's dream of the experienced great against the punchy youngster, quickly faded. Glasnovic would clear his next five. Needing to match that to stay in with a chance of the gold medal, Garcia would miss three of his next five. Glasnovic would seal the title by hitting all five targets remaining, while Garcia finished well with four cleared. Aged 42, Josip Glasnovic has been an Olympic, European and World Cup gold medallist - and he finally added the ISSF World Championship title to his trophy cabinet. He outscored Garcia 44-39.
Garcia's hopes of achieving back-to-back world titles across junior and senior ranks would have been an incredible achievement - and his silver medal is still testament to an athlete with a long future ahead of him, coming up against an athlete double his age. For Sandhu, it was his second-ever medal at a major competition after an ISSF World Cup bronze medal in 2007 - 18 years ago. It also marked his best-ever result at the ISSF World Championship, finally beating his previous best of 15th set in Barcelona in 1998 - before Garcia was even born.
After his victory, Josip Glasnovic said: "I feel very emotional because I worked hard for this and I prepared for this. In qualification I had 124 - one target missed, so I am very happy for this because I now have every gold. I don't know where I go next but I love this sport, I love seeing my friends at these events and I'm healthy - that's the most important thing. I feel good to shoot for the next few years.
"It's extra special [to share the final with Anton] because every time we're in the Croatian final, we are used to shooting together so it's normal. But here I tried to just focus on myself, concentrate and not hear the sirens of the shooters who missed."
Responses
Leave your comment