The junior Indian shooting squad picked up five more medals on the final day of competitions at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Championship Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun in Lima, Peru. That strong finish propelled India to the top of the medal tally with a total count of 13 gold, three silver, and eight bronze medals.
Italy was second with five golds, besides four silver and four bronze. While Norway took the third position, capturing four gold and a total of 10 medals.
The last gold for India came in the ISSF junior men’s 50m pistol team event. Deepak Dalal (545), Kamaljeet (543), and Raj Chandra (528) combined to shoot 1616 to beat Azerbaijan by one point. Armenia took the bronze in the event.
In the individual events, Mukesh Nelavalli clinched a bronze in the junior men’s 50m pistol, his sixth medal of the competition. He shot an aggregate of 548 out of 60 shots. Azerbaijan’s Imran Garayev took the gold medal in the event with a score of 552.
In the junior women’s 50m pistol, Parisha Gupta won the sliver. She shot 540, but unfortunately, that was not enough to surpass Hungary’s Miriam Jako. Jako set a new junior world record with an impressive score of 546.
It was also a contributing factor in India gaining a team silver in the same competition. Sejal Kamble (529), Ketan (525), and Kanishka Dagar combined for a total of 1567 to take the second place behind Azerbaijan. Divanshi, the fifth Indian competitor in the event, shot 523 and finished eighth.
Shardul Vihan and Sabeera Harris won a bronze for India in the junior mixed team trap. Both of them combined to shoot 138 out of a total of 75 targets with Shardul shooting 71 and Sabeera shooting 67. This put them behind the Czech Republic which won the gold with 141+8, and Italy which won silver with 141+7.
The other Indian combine of Zuhair Khan and Bhavya Tripathi tied for sixth place with the same score of 134.
With this, the shooting sports calendar also moved on to New Delhi, India. As the ISSF Junior World Championship finished in Cairo, the focus now shifts to the Indian capital. Furthermore, New Delhi will host the prestigious ISSF World Cup Final Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun, marking the end of the season in 2024.
ANI
