India finish on top with 43 medals at Shooting Junior World Championships

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.

Indian Medalists at Shooting Junior World Championships

*** Rifle***

10m Air Rifle Men Junior Silver Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil

50m Rifle 3 Positions Men Junior Gold Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar

10m Air Rifle Women Junior Bronze Ramita

10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Junior Silver Atmika Gupta , Rajpreet Singh

50m Rifle 3 Positions Mixed Team Junior Silver Ayushi Podder, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar

Air Rifle Team Men Junior Gold Srikanth Dhanush , Rajpreet Singh, Paarth Makhija

Air Rifle Team Women Junior Silver Nisha Kanwar, Zeena Khitta, Atmika Gupta

50m Rifle 3 Positions Team Women Junior Silver Nischal, Prasiddhi Mahan, Ayushi Podder

*** Pistol***

25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men Junior Silver Adarsh Singh

25m Standard Pistol Men Junior Gold Vijayveer Sidhu, Silver Udhayveer Sidhu, Bronze Harsh Gupta

50m Pistol Men Junior Gold Arjun Singh Cheema, Silver Shaurya Sarin, Bronze Ajinkya Chavan

10m Air Pistol Women Junior Gold Manu Bhaker, Silver Esha Singh

25m Pistol Women Junior Gold Naamya Kapoor, Bronze Manu Bhaker

25m Standard Pistol Women Junior Gold Rhythm Sangwan, Silver Niveditha Nair Veloor, Bronze Naamya Kapoor

50m Pistol Women Junior Gold Shikha narwal, Silver Esha Singh, Bronze Navdeep kaur

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Junior Gold Manu Bhaker, Sarabjot Singh, Silver Shikha Narwal, Naveen

25m Rapid Fire Pistol Mixed Team Junior Gold Vijayveer Sidhu, Rhythm Sangwan, Bronze Tejaswini, Anish

Air Pistol Team Men Junior Gold Sarabjot Singh, Naveen, Shiva Narwal

Air Pistol Team Women Junior Gold Rhythm Sangwan, Manu Bhaker, Shikha Narwal

25m Rapid Fire Pistol Team Men Junior Gold Adarsh Singh, Vijayveer Sidhu, Anish

25m Pistol Team Women Junior Gold Rhythm Sangwan, Naamya Kapoor,  Manu Bhaker

*** Shotgun***

Double Trap Men Junior Gold Vinay Pratap Singh Chandrawat, Silver Sehajpreet Singh, Bronze Mayank Shokeen

Double Trap Women Junior Gold Manvi Soni, Silver Yeshaya Hafiz Contractor, Bronze Hitasha

Skeet Women Junior Silver Ganemat Sekhon

Trap Team Men Junior Silver Bakhtyaruddin Mohamadmuzahid Malek, Shardul Vihan, Vivaan Kapoor

Skeet Team Men Junior Bronze Rajveer Gill, Ayush Rudraraju, Abhay Singh Sekhon

Skeet Team Women Junior Gold Areeba Khan, Raiza Dhillon, Ganemat Sekhon