Junior World Cup Shooting: Telangana’s Srikanth shoots gold

Dhanush Srikanth won the Men's 10m Air Rifle on competition Day 3 of the ongoing Junior World Cup Shooting

Hyderabad: Telangana shooter Dhanush Srikanth won the men’s 10m air rifle event in the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany, giving India their third gold of the competition so far, here on Monday.

The youngster from Hyderabad posted 249.4 in the 24-shot final to leave silver winning Swede, Pontus Kallin, a clear 1.3 points behind in a clinical display. Frenchman Romain Aufrere won the bronze.

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Three Indians made the final of the junior men’s 10m air rifle. Besides Srikanth, who qualified sixth with a score of 628.4, Pratham Bhadana finished above him in fifth with 628.7. Abhinav Shaw, who won the air rifle mixed team gold on Sunday, also grabbed the eighth and final spot with a score of 626.7.

However, Abhinav bowed out in seventh, while Pratham missed out on a medal with a fourth-place finish. Srikanth, though, was in a different league in the final and led from the start, going from strength to strength, giving none of his opponents a chance.

There were two Indian teams in the skeet mixed team event. The pair of Ritu Raj Bundela and Raiza Dhillon finished seventh in qualifying with a score of 134.

Harmehar Lally and Sanjana Sood, the second pair, made the bronze-medal match cut with a fourth-place finish and a combined effort of 136 out of 150 targets.

India also picked up a bronze in the skeet mixed team competition, when Harmehar Lally and Sanjana Sood defeated their Swedish opponents David Jonsson and Felicia Ros in a shoot-off. India now lead the medal tally with three gold, one silver and two bronze, ahead of the USA who have two gold and one silver thus far.