Jr World Cup Shooting: Clean sweep for India in women's air rifle as hosts dominate Day 5

New Delhi, Sep 29 (IANS) India produced a stunning display of dominance in the 10m air rifle junior women’s event at the ISSF Junior World Cup New Delhi 2025, at Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range here on Monday, registering a clean sweep of the podium.

Ojasvi Thakur emerged as the champion with a score of 252.7, firing two brilliant 10.9s on her 8th and 16th shots to seal the gold medal. Teammate Hrudya Shri Kondur secured the silver with 250.2, while qualification leader Shambhavi S. Kshirsagar completed the all-India podium with 229.4.

The Indian trio had already stamped their authority in qualification, finishing as the top three with Shambhavi leading on 632.0, Ojasvi following with 631.9, and Hrudya third on 629.8. Croatia’s Anamarija Turk, who had qualified eighth, was the closest challenger but placed fourth in the final with 206.6.

The rest of the finalists included Individual Neutral Athletes Lidiia Vasileva (184.5), Varvara Kardakova (164.2), and Mariia Kruglova (142.8), as well as Slovakia’s Kamila Novotna (122.1).

In the men’s 10m air rifle junior final, India’s Himanshu, who had topped qualification with 633.7, kept his form intact to clinch gold with a superb 250.9. Individual Neutral Athlete Dmitrii Pimenov followed with 249.9 for silver, while India’s Abhinav Shaw claimed bronze with 228.4.

Fellow Indian Naraen Pranav Vanitha Suresh finished fifth on 187.0. AIN’s Kamil Nuriakhmetov placed fourth with 208.3, while his teammate Sergei Novoselov took sixth on 165.9. Croatia’s Darko Tomasevic (144.8) and Oman’s Khalid Mohammed Ali Khalaf Al Kalbani (123.5) rounded off the line-up.

The 25m rapid fire pistol men junior final produced a thrilling finish as individual athlete Aleksandr Kovalev of AIN edged past India’s Mukesh Nelavalli in a shoot-off to claim the gold medal. Both had ended tied on 27 hits before Kovalev prevailed 3-1 in the decider. Mukesh, who had qualified third with 571-20x, settled for silver.

India still managed a double podium as Suraj Sharma, the qualification leader with 577-15x, took bronze with 21 hits. Sameer finished fourth on 15 hits, while Great Britain’s Toby Aberdeen (10) and AIN’s Georgii Tarasov (7) closed the field.

In the trap junior qualification Day 1, competition remained tight. In the women’s section, AIN’s Kseniia Samofalova, India’s Addya Katyal, and Italy’s Sofia Gori shared the lead with 70 hits from 75 targets, while USA’s Lucy Myers followed in fourth with 69. Four shooters, including India’s Tanisska Senthil Kumar, were tied on 68.

In the junior men’s event, Croatia’s Toni Gudelj and Spain’s Daniel Fernandez de Vicente led with 73 hits, while seven shooters followed on 72.

Qualification Day 2 for both trap men and women will be held on Tuesday (September 30), with 50 additional targets starting at 9 AM, ahead of the medal finals in the afternoon.

Other Indians in action:

10m Air Rifle Men Junior

Mohammed Vania - 627.1 (6th)

Piyush Sharma - 626.0 (7th)

10m Air Rifle Women Junior

Anvii Rathod – 628.3 (7th)

Isha Anil Taksale – 625.3 (10th)

25m RFP Men Junior Qualification - Stage 2

Abhinav Chaudalry - 569-21x (5th)

Jatin - 566-14x (6th)

Trap Men Junior Qualification - Day 1 (75 Targets)

Arya Vansh Tyagi - 71 (10th)

Vinay Pratap Singh Chandrawat - 70 (14th)

Udhav Singh Rathore - 70 (15th)

Arjun - 70 (16th)

Aman Chauhan - 62 (35th)

Trap Women Junior Qualification - Day 1 (75 Targets)

Addya Katyal - 70 (2nd)

Tanisska Senthil Kumar - 68 (8th)

Sabeera Haris - 67 (9th)

Shreshtha Sisodiya - 63 (17th)

Bhavya Tripathi - 58 (18th).

--IANS

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