India’s gold-winning men’s team.© SAI
Indian shooters began their ISSF Junior World Championship (Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun) campaign in Peru on a good note, winning team gold in men’s and women’s 10m air pistol events, though a potential top-podium finish was lost in the individual category after a marksman was docked two points for reporting late for the final. The junior men’s trio of Umesh Choudhary, Pradhyumn Singh and Mukesh Nelavalli topped the men’s team competition in 10m air pistol with a tally of 1726 points. They finished 10 points ahead of second-placed Romania, while Italy took bronze with a score of 1707.
Choudhary though missed a potential individual gold after being penalised two points for reporting late for the final.
Choudhary and Singh had earlier made it to the individual finals placed third and fourth respectively in the qualification round. Choudhary shot 580 and Singh 578 but missed out on individual medals, ending up sixth and eighth respectively.
Luca Joldea of Romania won the gold medal, while Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Hsiang-Chen clinched the silver. Nelavalli was ninth in qualification with a score of 574.
The combination of Kanishka Dagar, Lakshita and Anjali Chaudhary tallied 1708 to clinch the junior women’s 10m air pistol team gold. They pipped Azerbaijan by a point and bronze-winning Ukraine by four points.
Dagar also made the individual final in third place with a score of 573 along with Kanika who also shot the same score but with lesser inner 10s, to bag the fifth qualifying spot.
In the final, Kanika won bronze with a score of 217.6, while Dagar finished eighth.
Chinese Taipei’s Chen Yu-Chun won gold, while Slovakia’s Manja Slak bagged the silver.
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