In the 10 meter air rifle mixed team event of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Cup in Suhal, both the Indian teams won silver and bronze medals respectively, giving India a double podium finish for the second time in the tournament in two days.
Narayan Pranav and Khyati Chaudhary won silver medals while Himanshu and Shambhavi Kshir Sagar won bronze medals, taking India’s medal tally to double digits (two gold, four silver, four bronze) and two more finals will be held on the last day on Monday (May 26). The pair of Khyati and Narayan scored 631.0 in the qualifying round of 38 teams. They finished second with 10 points and got a chance to win the gold medal against the Chinese pair of Huang Yuting (Olympic champion, two-time Olympic medalist and Senior Air Rifle World Champion) and Huang Liwanlin (Junior Air Rifle World Champion), who were at the top of the rankings with a combined 632.6 points.
They fought bravely in the finals and whenever the Chinese team tried to advance, they came back on par and remained level till the end in the single shot series of 14 and tied for 15th series with 14 points. The Chinese pair won the 15th series by 0.5 points to finish first with 16 points and win the gold medal. Himanshu and Shambhavi, who had finished fourth with 629.5 points in qualifying for the bronze medal, were at one point trailing the 1-7 American pair of Griffin Lake and Eliza Spencer.
With the medal at risk, they showed so much aggression that the American players could not respond and within no time, they turned the tables and went ahead 13–7. The American team could only win one more series as the Indian team ultimately won 17-9. On Saturday, Shambhavi and Ojasvi Thakure finished 1-2 in the women’s air rifle, giving India its first double podium finish of the tournament. The trap final was also scheduled to be held on Sunday, but no Indians would participate in it. The women have already fallen out of the top six cuts, while the men were also well below the cut line.
Trap Score: Trap Women Junior: Sabira Haris 109 (10m), Bhavya Tripathi 108 (12m), Shrestha Sisodia 108 (14m), Neela Raja Balu 102 (21m), Antra Rajasekar 95 (30m)
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