India finish ISSF Junior World Championships on top with 43 medals, including 17 golds

New Delhi: India won a whopping 43 medals, including 17 gold, to finish on top of the pecking order in the just-concluded ISSF Junior World Championship in Lima. The country’s shooters won all the available 12 medals on the final competition day of the top junior tournament at the Las Palmas Shooting range in the Peruvian capital of Lima. Vijayveer Sidhu, Rhythm Sangwan, Arjun Singh Cheema and Shikha Narwal were India’s gold medallists on the final day, putting the country firmly on top of the standings with 17 gold. India concluded the meet with 16 silver and 10 bronze medals, in addition to the 17 gold. Vijayveer began the sweep with a yellow metal in the junior men’s 25m standard pistol for his third gold medal of the championship. His twin brother Udhayveer won silver with 570, the same score as Vijayveer’s but with three lesser inner 10s. Harsh Gupta won bronze with a 566 in a 17-strong field. Then Rhythm Sangwan won her fourth gold of the championship with a victory in the junior women’s 25m standard pistol with a score of 573, leaving compatriots Niveditha Veloor Nair (565) and Naamya Kapoor (563) behind in silver and bronze positions. In the 50m pistol for junior men, India’s Arjun Singh Cheema bossed the 16-strong field with a 549 out of 600 with both teammates Shaurya Sarin and Ajinkya Chavan also finishing on the same score. Shaurya was adjudged second and Ajinkya third on inner 10s and count back. In the final event of the championship, India’s Shikha Narwal won the junior women’s 50m pistol with a score of 530. Esha Singh was second with 529 while Navdeep Kaur was third with 526. In all, the pistol discipline stole a march over the other two for India, accounting for 26 of the 43 medals on offer. Shotgun had nine medals while rifle won eight. Olympians Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Manu Bhaker reiterated their world-class credentials yet again with dominating performances. Manu was the most successful Indian athlete with four gold and one bronze medal while Aishwary smashed the junior world record en route to winning the junior men’s 50m rifle 3 positions gold. In the shotgun discipline, Ganemat Sekhon in the junior women’s skeet returned with two medals (one gold, one silver) to further enhance her reputation as an excellent future prospect.