IMAGE: India won the gold and silver medals in the 10m air pistol mixed team event. Photograph: NRAI/X
Indian shooters dominated the 10m air pistol mixed team event, clinching the top-two podium finishes while skeet exponent Raiza Dhillon pocketed a silver as the hosts continued to shine in the ISSF Junior World Cup at the Dr Karni Singh Ranges, in New Delhi, on Saturday.
India lead the tally with 11 medals, including three gold, five silver and three bronze. Italy are second with two gold and a silver, while Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) are third with two gold.
The pair of Rashmika Sahgal and Kapil, who recently won the men’s and women’s gold in 10m air pistol junior event at the the Asian Championships in Kazakhstan, joined forces to hog the limelight on day three by taking the top spot in air pistol mixed team event.
The duo defeated the other Indian pair, Vanshika Chaudhary and Antony Jonathan Gavin, 16-10 in the title round.
The Spanish pair of Ines Ortega Castro and Lucas Sanchez defeated Iran’s Parimah Amiri and Mohammadreza Ahmadi 16-14 to take the bronze.
It was a start-to-finish domination by Rashmika and Kapil, who topped the qualification round en route to the four-team final with an aggregate of 582. Both shot 291 each as the Vanshika-Gavin pair was second entering the final, aggregating 578 (287+291).
In the air pistol mixed team event, the top-two finishers in the preliminary round compete for gold, while the next two fight for the bronze.
The final turned out to be a one-sided affair with Rashmika and Kapil taking an early lead.
Gavin, the 16-year-old who stole the limelight on Friday while winning the men’s 10m air pistol title with a flawless performance, was erratic with his scores swaying wildly.
A 9.9 was followed by 10.5 and 10.6 before he slumped to three consecutive scores of 9.7, 9.8 and 9.5.
Ditto for Vanshika as she had three scores in the mid-8s, something which led the gold slip out of their hands.
The junior women’s skeet event saw Olympian Raiza Dhillon take the silver medal behind Italy’s Arianna Nember in a closely-fought final. Arianna totalled 53 while Raiza, who competed at the Paris Olympics, shot 51.
Mansi Raghuwanshi took the bronze with a score of 41.
Italy’s traditional dominance in shotgun events continued with the junior men’s skeet gold being cornered by Marco Coco (56), while Lassi Matias Kauppinen (Finland, 53) and Andreas Pontikis (Cyprus, 43) took the silver and bronze respectively.
India’s Harmehar Singh Lally and Atul Singh Rajawat finished fourth and fifth with scores of 35 and 25 respectively in the six-shooter final.
