ISSF junior world championship: Shotgun shooters win two medals, India assured of six more

Indian shooters continued their fine run at the ISSF Junior World Championship in Lima, Peru by adding two more medals to their tally and qualifying for six final events on Friday.

The junior women’s skeet team won the gold medal while the men’s skeet team grabbed the bronze.

The trio of Ganemat Sekhon, Raiza Dhillon and Areeba Khan blanked the Italian team of Damiana Paolacci, Sara Bongini and Giada Longhi 6-0 to win the second gold for India at the junior world event.

Manu Bhaker had won India’s first gold medal on Thursday in the women’s 10m pistol.

Meanwhile, the junior men’s skeet team featuring Rajveer Gill, Ayush Rudraraju and Abhay Singh Sekhon also confirmed a podium finish by beating Turkey’s Ali Can Arabaci, Ahmet Baran and Muhammet Seyhun Kaya 6-0 for the bronze medal.

While Ganemat Sekhon had won an individual silver in the women’s skeet, the Indian men couldn’t qualify for the individual skeet finals.

India’s medal count currently stands at seven but is bound to increase as Indians have qualified for six more gold medal matches.

The pistol and rifle shooters performed brilliantly in the qualification rounds and made it to the final in all team events.

It’ll be an all-India final in the 10m air pistol mixed team when newly-crowned junior world champion Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh go up against Shikha Narwal and Naveen.

Manu Bhaker and Shikha Narwal, along with Rhythm Sangwan, will also feature in the air pistol women’s team final where they will face Belarus.

Similarly, the men’s pistol team of Sarabjot Singh, Naveen and Shiva Narwal will be squaring off against Belarus for the gold.

Moreover, the Indian rifle shooters can also win three gold medals.

The women’s rifle trio of Nisha Kanwar, Zeena Khitta and Atmika Gupta will take on Hungary in the final while the men’s team of Srikanth Dhanush, Rajpreet Singh and Paarth Makhija faces USA.

Atmika Gupta and Rajpreet Singh have also qualified for the gold medal playoff in the 10m air rifle mixed team event where they will be challenged by Olympic champion William Shaner and Mary Tucker of the USA.

All six finals will take place late on Saturday.