ISSF Jr World Cup: Indian shooters sweep 10m air pistol mixed team podium

India’s sharpshooters shone brilliantly at the ISSF Junior World Cup on Saturday, 27 September, seizing the top two podium spots in the 10m air pistol mixed team event at the iconic Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Ranges.

The star duo of Rashmika Sahgal and Kapil, who recently clinched individual golds in the men’s and women’s 10m air pistol junior events at the Asian Championships in Kazakhstan, combined forces to deliver a stellar performance, defeating fellow Indians Vanshika Chaudhary and Antony Jonathan Gavin 16-10 in the final to take the gold.

The bronze went to the Spanish pair Ines Ortega Castro and Lucas Sanchez, who edged past Iran’s Parimah Amiri and Mohammadreza Ahmadi 16-14.

Rashmika and Kapil had dominated from the outset, topping the qualification round with a combined score of 582 (291 each), while the Vanshika-Gavin pair followed closely with 578 (287+291). The mixed team format pits the top two teams from preliminaries for gold, while the next two compete for bronze.

The final was one-sided as Rashmika and Kapil built an early lead, while Gavin, 16, who had impressed on Friday by winning the men’s 10m air pistol title, struggled with inconsistent scores. Vanshika also faltered, with three mid-8s scoring shots, handing India a comfortable gold.

In junior men’s skeet, India narrowly missed a medal, with Harmehar Singh Lally and Atul Singh Rajawat finishing fourth and fifth with scores of 35 and 25 in the six-shooter final. Gold went to Marco Coco of Italy (56), silver to Lassi Matias Kauppinen of Finland (53), and bronze to Andreas Pontikis of Cyprus (43).

The junior women’s skeet final, featuring Indian Olympian Raiza Dhillon along with Mansi Raghuwanshi and Agrima Kanwar, is scheduled later on Saturday.

India continue to lead the medal tally with nine medals — three gold, four silver, and two bronze. Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) are second with two golds, followed by Italy with one gold and a silver.

With PTI inputs