Clean sweep for India in women's junior air rifle, Himanshu also clinches gold

New Delhi, Sep 29 (PTI) Ojasvi Thakur won the gold medal to lead India's all-podium finish in the 10m air rifle women's event at the ISSF Junior World Cup as Hrudya Shri Kondur and Shambhavi Kshirsagar secured silver and bronze, respectively, here Monday.

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. Hrudya Shri finished second with score of 250.2, while qualification leader Shambhavi completed the all-India podium with 229.4 at Karni Singh Shooting Range.

The Indian trio had already stamped its 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 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 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 was 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's 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.

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 Britain’s Toby Aberdeen (10) and AIN’s Georgii Tarasov (7) closed the field.

In 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 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 with 50 additional targets. PTI AT AT BS BS