Changwon (South Korea), India’s Hriday Hazarika clinched the gold medal in the men’s junior 10m air rifle, while Elavenil Valarivan and Shreya Agrawal claimed silver and bronze medals respectively in the women’s junior 10m air rifle event at the 52nd ISSF World Championships here on Friday.
The 16-year-old Hriday prevailed in a shoot-off, scoring a decisive 10.3 against Iran’s Amir Mohammad Nekounam, who came up with a 10.2.
Junior World Cup gold medallist Hriday and Amir finished tied at 250.1 points after nine series, comprising 24 shots.
The podium was completed by Russian Grigorii Shamakov, who scored 228.6 points. The fourth place was taken by Marco Suppini of Italy with 207.2 points.
India, however, failed to win a medal in the team competition in this category. By setting a new record, China took the team gold medal with 1876.2 points. Iran followed in 2nd place with 1874.3 points, while the Russian side won bronze with 1873.7.
In the women’s junior 10m air rifle event, Elavenil (249.8 points) and Shreya (228.4) finished behind Chinese Shi Mengyao (250.5).
However, the performances of Elavenil and Shreya powered India to a gold medal in the team event. They won gold along with their teammate Manini Kaushik with a total tally of 1880.7 points.
The score turned out to be a new junior world record, an excellent result that proved once again the strength of the Indian team, currently ranked 2nd in the intermediate medal standings of the ISSF World Championship, second only to the host country.
China, led by the new world champion Shi, collected the silver medal with 1874.6 points (scored by Shi, Wang Suhyi and Qiaoying Zhang). Bronze went to the host country, South Korea, thanks to Kim Jiyeon, Gaeul Han and Minjung Oh, who scored 1871.9 points.
