Changwon (South Korea): India’s junior shooters scaled another high by delivering the country’s first set of skeet medals at the ISSF World Championships – a men’s team silver and an individual bronze by Gurnihal Singh Garcha here, Tuesday.
Before this edition of the WC, India had won all their shotgun medals in the trap and double trap disciplines. This will be the first time that Indian skeet shooters will come back with medals from the premiere competition.
The trio of Gurnihal (119), Anantjeet Singh Naruka (117) and Ayush Rudraraju (119) combined for a score of 355 for a second place finish in the finals. The three had topped day one of the team qualifying Monday.
The gold in the team event was won by the Czech Republic with a score 356, while the bronze went to the Italian team, which shot a score of 354,
The 19-year-old Gurnihal also made the six-strong individual final, where he shot a score of 46 to claim the individual bronze, the biggest achievement of his international career so far. Italian Elia Sdruccioli notched up the gold with a score of 55, while American Nic Moschetti won the silver with 54.
In the junior women’s 50m rifle 3 position competition, Indian team, comprising Bhakti Khamkar (1132), Shirin Godara (1130) and Ayushi Podder (1121), signed off 14th with a score of 3,383.
There was no end to the seniors’ disappointment with the women’s skeet team, comprising Rashmi Rathore (108), Maheshwari Chauhan (106) and Ganemat Sekhon (105), ending ninth with a score of 319.