Sainyam gives India golden start to Junior Shooting World Cup

Chandigarh youngster Sainyam gave India a golden start to the ISSF Junior World Cup Junior here on Saturday by finishing atop the podium in the women's 10m air pistol competition.

Sainyam shot 238 in the final to leave Korean Kim Minseo behind in second place. The Korean shot 236.0 for silver while the bronze went to Chinese Taipei's Liu Heng Yu, who bowed after the 22nd shot of the 24-shot final, with a score of 216.9, 0.2 behind the Korean at that stage.

In other results, India's Suruchi Inder Singh also reached the women's pistol final, finishing sixth with a score of 154.1. Amit Sharma in the junior men's 10m air pistol was the lone Indian finalist in the event and finished fourth to miss out on a medal.

Italian Luca Arrighi won gold in the event. Among other Indians in the fray, Urva Chaudhary finished 26th in women's air pistol with a qualification round score of 560.

Sainyam had qualified third with 571 while Suruchi was fifth in qualifying with 571. In men's pistol, Abhinav Chaudhary came close to the top eights with a qualification round score of 570, placing him ninth.

Shubham Bisla, the third Indian contender, was 13th having shot a score of 568. The junior men's and women's skeet qualification rounds also began on Saturday. Ritu Raj Bundela, Abhay Singh Sekhon, and Munek Battula are in contention in men's skeet while Raiza Dhillon, Mufaddal Zara Deesawala, and Sanjan Sood are carrying Indian hopes in women's skeet.