ISSF junior shooting World Cup: Manu Bhaker, Anmol secure India seventh gold medal by winning 10m air pistol event

Sydney: The duo of Manu Bhaker and Anmol secured India’s seventh gold medal in the ISSF junior World Cup by winning the mixed 10m air pistol event with a qualification world record in Sydney on Tuesday. Genemat Sekhon bagged an individual bronze medal in the junior women’s skeet, shooting a 36 in the final. In the mixed 10m air rifle event, 17-year-old Shreya Agrawal and 19-year-old Arjun Babuta completed the podium in third place, finishing with 432.8 points, while their country-mates Elavenil Valarivan Elavenil (18) and Tejas Krishna Prasad (20) finished fourth with 389.1. [caption id=“attachment_4408265” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Manu Bhaker and Anmol secured India their seventh gold medal in the ISSF junior World Cup. Image courtesy: Twitter @ISSF_Shooting[/caption] Bhaker and Anmol dominated the event from the very start and enter the final with the highest qualification score and a new junior qualification world record. They finished with a 5.6 advantage on their closest rivals, China’s Liu Jinyao and Li Xue. The two Indian youngsters dominated the final match since its very first series, progressively building a gap between them and their closest rivals. They eventually finished with 478.9 points, just 1.8 points away from the current world record. Previously, Anmol and Bhaker also set a new Junior Qualification World Record with 770 points. The silver and bronze medals were both awarded to China, as Liu Jinyao (20) and Li Xue (18) finished in second position with 473.3 points, while Wang Zhehao (19) and Xiao Jiaruixuan (15) took third place with 410.7. A second Indian team, comprising 18-year-old Gaurav Rana and 19-year-old Mahima Agrawal, finished at the feet of the podium, leaving the final at the 38th-shot mark with 370.2 points and fourth position. Finishing 11.2 points away from the fifth place because of a dry-fire shot and also suffering a 1.0-point reduction Australia’s Hans Ben Hummer (18) and Sascha Kroopin (16) took the sixth place with a final score of 320.9. Shreya, who trains at Olympic medallist Gagan Narang’s Gun For Glory Academy, said, “I am really happy to have secured a bronze medal for the country amidst the tough competition and would like to thank my parents, coaches at GFG and especially Gagan sir who has continuously supported me and believed in me.” As three out of five shooters from GFG claimed medals at the ISSF Junior World Cup, Narang seemed overjoyed. “We at GFG always knew these shooters have the potential to beat anybody on a given day. And after three out of five of them secured medals, it just goes on to show that we are headed towards the right direction,” the GGF co-founder Narang said. Overall, India occupied the second place with 18 medals, including seven gold, while China continued to lead the tally with 22 podium finishes, including eight gold medals.