ISSF Shotgun World Championship: Indian Junior Team bags gold; Ahvar Rizvi, Ankit Mittal win silver

India’s Ankur Mittal won the silver medal in the Men’s Double Trap event earlier today.

Mittal had made it into the finals after scoring 145 points with shots of 28, 30, 29, 30, 28 in the qualifying round. In the process, he finished as the topper ahead of China’s Hu Binyuan and Italy’s Daniele Di Spigno.

Having topped the qualifying chart, he had an advantage and was expected to bag the gold. In the end, though, he fell two points short of eventual gold medallist Vitaly Fokeev of Russia. Mittal shot 66 points while Fokeev, who finished fifth in the qualifying round, managed 68. The Russian managed to surpass Mittal in the last few rounds and secure the gold.

Team India wins gold in Junior Men’s Double Trap (Team)

Team India bagged the gold medal in the Double Trap Men Junior event at the ISSF World Championship (Shotgun) in Moscow on Tuesday.

Shapath Bharadwaj, Ahvar Rizvi and Shardul Vihan, representing the junior team, put on a brilliant show. The trio amassed a total of 401 points, 12 more than second-placed Italy. Shardul Vihan, in particular, was in top form as he took home 139 points, the most by any shooter in the event.

Bharadwaj, too, got into the groove early and shot 138 points while Rizvi shot 124.

Among the opponents, Italy’s Jacopo Dupre De Foresta shot 135 while China’s Ying Qi shot 138. The others were not even close to Vihan and Bharadwaj’s scores.

Ahvar Rizvi bags silver in Junior Men’s Double Trap (Individual)

Azhar Rizvi might not have been the top contributor in the team's win but he turned on the heat in the individual event.

The youngster shot 66 points but fell just one short of Great Britain’s James Dedman and had to remain content with the silver. China’s Ying Qi finished third and bagged the bronze. Meanwhile, compatriot, Shardul Vihan came sixth in the individual event with a low score of 19.

Earlier in the day, Team India disappointed in the men’s senior event despite Mittal’s good showing. Mittal’s teammates Sangram Dahiya (135) and Mohd Anas (133) finishing at the 20th and 23rd spots respectively did not help India’s medal challenge.