New Delhi: Rising women’s skeet shooter Ganemat Sekhon won a silver medal at International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Championship in Lima, Peru, to add to the gold medal won by Manu Bhaker in women’s 10m air pistol here.
In a late-evening event on Thursday, the Chandigarh-based Ganemat — who had picked up her first senior ISSF World Cup stage medals in New Delhi earlier this year — won the fifth medal for the country in Lima following a tough shoot-off.
In the shoot-off, American Alisha Fayth Layne won the gold, after both the shooters were tied on 46-hits after the 60-shot final. Sara Bongini of Italy won bronze.
It was a fruitful day for India with Bhaker winning gold in the women’s 10m air pistol leading an Indian 1-2 in the event with teammate Esha Singh winning silver. Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil of Mumbai had begun the medal-rush with silver in the men’s 10m Air rifle with Ramita following that up with a bronze in the women’s 10m air rifle.
The second Indian in the women’s skeet final Raiza Dhillon could not get going and finished sixth, hitting 14 of the first 20 targets. India also finished outside the medals in men’s 10m air pistol with Naveen finishing fourth, Sarabjot Singh sixth and Vijayveer Sidhu eighth after all three had made the finals cut.
In men’s skeet, none of the three Indians in the fray, Rajveer Gill, Abhay Singh Sekhon and Ayush Rudraraju, could make it to the six-man finals. At the beginning of Day Three where two finals are scheduled — men’s and women’s team skeet competitions — India stands second on the table behind the USA.
The Americans won six medals in all Thursday, including three gold led by their reigning Olympic champion William Shaner in the men’s 10m air rifle. France and Belarus won the other gold on the day, besides India.
