Manu Bhaker crowned junior shooting world champion

Ace Indian shooter Manu Bhaker bounced back from her Tokyo Olympics debacle by winning the gold medal at the ISSF Junior World Championship in Lima, Peru on Thursday.

The 19-year-old Manu Bhaker dominated from the get-go to win the top honours in the women’s 10m air pistol event, beating second-placed compatriot Esha Singh in the final round, comprising eight shooters.

The Youth Olympic champion Manu Bhaker shot 241.3 while Esha Singh managed 240.0 to ensure two Indians stepped on the podium.

Fellow shooter Rhythm Sangwan, who was second in the qualification, missed the bronze medal by 0.2 points to finish fourth. Yasemin Yilmaz of Turkey took third.

Meanwhile, Rudrankksh Patil had clinched the silver medal in the men’s 10m air rifle after an intense final round.

Rudrankksh put up a brilliant performance and even led the finals till the 20th shot. However, a lowly 9.7 in his penultimate attempt confirmed the gold medal for William Shaner of the USA, who is also the reigning Olympic champion.

The two other Indians in the rifle event, Paarth Makhija and Srikanth Dhanush, were the first shooters to be eliminated in the final.

India added another silver to its tally after shotgun shooter Ganemat Sekhon’s impressive outing in the women’s skeet.

Sekhon, 20, fought for the gold medal in a shoot-off against Alishia Layne of the USA as both shooters scored 46 in the final round.

The American scored two while the Indian drew a blank in the shoot-off.

Earlier, debutant Ramita had opened India’s medal tally by winning bronze in the women’s 10m air rifle event, finishing behind France's Oceanne Muller at first and USA's Mary Tucker at second.

Ramita’s compatriots Mehuli Ghosh and Nisha Kanwar finished fifth and eighth, respectively.

India, with one gold, three silver and a bronze, are currently second in the medals tally behind the USA.

The team events begin late on Friday.