Indian shooter Divanshi won the country’s 10th gold medal at the ISSF World Junior Championship in Lima, Peru on Tuesday night.
Divanshi, recovering from a fifth-place finish in the qualification round, clinched the gold medal in the women’s 25m pistol category, topping the final with a score of 35 out of possible 50.
She defeated silver medallist Cristina Magnani of Italy by two points. France’s Heloise Fourre bagged the bronze medal with a score of 30.
Divanshi’s was the fifth gold medal won by India on Tuesday. However, she was the only Indian shooter who qualified for the women’s 25m pistol final.
Tejaswani and Vibhuti Bhatia, the other Indian shooters in the fray, were eliminated in the qualification round for finishing 13th and 22nd respectively. Naamya Kapoor, on the other hand, was nowhere in contention for a place in the final as he put up a below-par show and finished at the 40th spot.
In the men’s 25m pistol category, Mukesh Nelavalli clinched the gold medal. It was his second gold and third medal in the championship so far.
Nelavalli wins gold in men’s category
Nelavalli won the men’s 25m pistol gold with a score of 585, pipping compatriot Suraj Sharma by two points. Sharma became the first Indian shooter to win a silver medal at the event.
Meanwhile, in the men’s 25m pistol team event, Nelavalli teamed up with Sharma and Pradhyumn Singh to snatch away the gold medal from Poland whose tally of 1726 fell three short of India’s. Italy won the bronze medal in the event.
India also a gold medal in the junior men’s 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) team competition, when Shourya Saini, Vedant Nitin Waghmare and Parikshit Singh Brar tallied 1753 to equal the junior world record in the elimination round to win the gold medal.
India currently lead the medal tally with 14 medals, including ten gold medals, strengthening their position at the top. The country maintains a huge gap with the second-placed holder, the USA, who won ten medals, including two gold so far.