Prachi Gaikwad wins junior women’s 50m 3P gold at ISSF Junior World Cup
Prachi Gaikwad won gold in junior women’s 50m rifle 3 positions at ISSF Junior World Cup in Cairo, while Naraen Pranav bagged bronze in junior men’s 10m air rifle. India now leads the medal tally with two golds and seven other medals
Hyderabad: Prachi Gaikwad struck gold, winning the junior women’s 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) event at the ongoing International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun in Cairo, Egypt, firing 354.6 in the final to overcome Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) Darya Chuprys, who shot 354.4. Another AIN shooter, Elena Kretinina, won bronze with a score of 343.3, exiting the 35-shot final after the 34th shot. Naraen Pranav also won bronze in the junior men’s 10m air rifle with a score of 229.5 in the final.
This was India’s second gold of the competition after Shiva Narwal had won the men’s 10m air pistol event on the opening day of competitions on Tuesday (Apr 21, 2026) and, with four silvers and three bronzes also in their kitty, takes them back to the top of the medal tally.
Prachi was the only Indian to qualify for the junior women’s 3P final at the Olympic International City Shooting range. She took sixth spot with a score of 578 and then began the final, placing fifth after the first 10 shots in the Kneeling position.
Naraen wins bronze
In the junior men’s 10m air rifle, three Indians made the cut with Naraen best placed at third, scoring 630.9. Abhinav Shaw was fourth with 630.0, while Divyanshu Dewangan took the seventh qualifying spot with a score of 626.8.
In the final, Divyanshu was the first to be eliminated in eighth place with his score reading 122.4 after 12 shots of the 24-shot final. Abhinav and Naraen were in the fight for third place at that point, with Uzbek Javohir Sokhibov and Cypriot Achilleas Sophocleous in first and second, respectively.
Vanshika Chaudhary, Sejal Kamble and Kanak have also made the junior women’s 10m air pistol final with scores of 579, 577 and 576, giving them the top three spots on the leaderboard.
