India tops medals tally at ISSF Junior World Cup
Among other Indians in the final, Naamya Kapoor (21) finished fourth, and Riya Shirish Thatte (16) was fifth
Hyderabad: India capped off a successful week at the ISSF Junior World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun on Wednesday as the leading nation on the medals table, adding a silver in the junior women’s 25m pistol through Tejaswani Singh, who won gold at the Sub Junior World Cup, on the final day of the competition, at Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in Delhi.
Individual Neutral Athlete Aleksandra Tikhonova claimed the junior women’s 25m pistol gold, while Czechia’s Tereza Zaviskova and Tomas Nantl edged compatriots Lea Kucerova and Kamil Bednar to win the Trap mixed team junior gold.
Tikhonova was steady from the start in the 25m Pistol Women Junior final, hitting 33 to secure gold. Tejaswani, who had dominated the qualification with 580-17x, kept pace but finished with silver on 30, while Italian athlete Alessandra Fait completed the podium with 28.
Among other Indians in the final, Naamya Kapoor (21) finished fourth, and Riya Shirish Thatte (16) was fifth. Individual Neutral Athlete Iuliia Tretiakova was sixth with 9, while her teammate Viktoriia Kholodnaia finished seventh with 4. USA’s Mehr Chanda rounded off the final in eighth place with 1 hit.
The Trap Mixed Team Junior final produced a close all-Czech duel, with Zaviskova and Nantl edging compatriots Lea Kucerova, who won trap women junior gold yesterday, and Kamil Bednar 39–38 for gold.
European junior champions Irene Del Rey Ruiz and Isaac Hernandez from Spain defeated Italy’s Sofia Gori and Luca Gerri 7–6 in a shoot-off to win bronze after a 40–40 tie in the bronze medal match.
India’s Addya Katyal and Arjun narrowly missed the bronze medal match by a single hit, finishing fifth with 136, while Bhavya Tripathi and Arya Vansh Tyagi ended tenth on 132.
In the 25m pistol men junior individual, a non-Olympic event, junior world champion Mukesh Nellavalli from India built on his precision stage score of 289-9x from yesterday with a superb 296-14x in rapid fire to finish with 585-23x for gold.
AIN’s Aleksandr Kovalev, already a 25m rapid fire pistol champion earlier in the competition, took silver with 577-17x, and Sahil Choudhary ensured another medal for India with bronze on 573-21x.
