Parth Rakesh Mane won the 10m air rifle gold at the World Junior Championships in Lima, Peru, on Monday night. This was the 16-year-old’s second gold at the Championships, having already claimed a team gold, as India’s impressive showing continued.
In a thrilling 24-shot final, Mane shot 250.7 to edge out China’s Huang Liwanlin by 0.7 points.
Braden Peiser bagged the bronze medal, narrowly defeating Paris Olympics silver medallist Victor Lindgren of Sweden, who finished fourth. Reigning double junior world champion Romain Aufrere finished sixth.
Among the other Indian shooters in the final, Ajay Malik finished fifth with 186.7 points after losing a shoot-off against Lindgren, while Abhinav Shaw bowed out after making a seventh-place finish with a score of 144.2.
In the qualification round, Ajay finished second with a score of 628.8, while Mane and Abhinav placed fourth and sixth, with scores of 627.7 and 627, respectively. Umamahesh Maddineni (625.5) and Talwar Singh (625.2) finished 13th and 14th, respectively.
Earlier, Mane had teamed up with Ajay and Abhinav to win the 10m air rifle team gold for India.
Women’s team win gold
India’s third gold of the day came when Gautami Bhanot, Sambhavi Kshirsagar, and Anoushka Thakur won the junior women’s 10m air rifle team title. Their combined score of 1883.5 outpaced the USA (1877.6) and Germany (1873.9) as India won the women’s team gold.
In the women’s 10m air rifle final, three Indian shooters reached the final but missed out on individual medals. Gautami Bhanot finished fourth, just 0.2 points behind the bronze-medal-winning US athlete, with a score of 209.3. Shambhavi Kshirsagar finished fifth with 188.4 points, while Ojasvi ended in seventh place with 146.1 points.
Despite the individual disappointments, Gautami and Shambhavi, along with Anoushka Thakur, won the team gold, setting a junior world team record score of 1894.8 to surpass the USA. Norway finished third.
Indian shooters also participated in the junior men’s and women’s skeet events but did not make it to the finals.
With five gold medals to their credit, India continue to lead the overall medal tally at the Championships.