5 Indian Highlights from the 2026 ISSF Junior World Cup

India topped the table with 5 golds and a total of 16 medals at the recently concluded 2026 ISSF Junior World Cup held in Cairo, Egypt.

Although it was a depleted field with top shooting nations such as China and South Korea not competing, there were still some notable performances by Indian juniors hoping to earn a spot in the senior team during the new Olympic cycle.

Shambhavi Kshirsagar and Divyanshu Dewangan – Air Rifle Mixed Team Junior

The AR Mixed Team duo of Shambhavi and Divyanshu won the Gold and set a new finals junior world record of 499.9. This is the current record after the new Finals scoring rules were introduced by the ISSF in 2026.

The team had topped the qualification stage with a score of 632.0. The present Finals Senior World Record in this event is 506.7 while the Qualification WR is 636.9.

In their respective individual events, Shambhavi had finished 4^th in the finals after topping the qualifications with an impressive 634, while Divyanshu finished 8^th after qualifying with a modest 626.8.

India’s Naraen Pranav (630.9) in Men’s 10m AR Junior and Panaah Bhugra (629.4) in Women’s 10m AR Junior won Bronze and Silver, respectively.

Vanshika Chaudhary – Women’s 10m Air Pistol Junior and Air Pistol Mixed Team Junior

India have a number of talented Women’s 10m AP shooters at present: Suruchi Phogat, Sainyam, Palak, Esha Singh and the ‘veteran’ Manu Bhaker. Vanshika Chaudhary seems to be the new name on the list.

At Cairo, 20-year-old Vanshika topped the Women’s 10m AP Qualifications with a good 579-17x and then won Gold with a Finals score of 241.3. She won another gold alongside Chirag Sharma in the AP mixed team event.

The Indian duo comfortably topped qualifications with a good 582-21x and then won the Finals with a score of 484.3, well ahead of second-placed AIN-A2’s 467.6.

Another Indian team of Mohini Singh and Himanshu Rana (568-15x) finished 3^rd.

Interestingly, the present Senior and Junior Finals World Record in the 10m AP Mixed event is also currently held by India – Palak and Mukesh Nelavalli won Gold with 487.7 at the 2026 World Cup held in Granada.

Sejal Kamble -Women’s 10m Air Pistol Junior and Women’s 25m Pistol Junior

19-year-old Sejal Kamble too added her name to the list of promising Indian pistol shooters by winning a silver in both women’s 10m AP and women’s 25m pistol. In the former event, Sejal (577-25x) ensured an Indian 1-2 with Vanshika after she finished 2^nd with a score of 239.6.

In the latter event, Sejal topped Qualifications with 580-11x and then managed to win Silver with 27 points behind AIN’s Katsiaryna Ivanova, who scored 31.

It should be noted that both Vanshika and Sejal’s 10m AP Qualification scores will be nearly good enough to qualify in Senior level events, however, the 25m pistol scores by Indians still need improvement.

Shiva Narwal and Chirag Sharma- Men’s 10m Air Pistol 

Shiva Narwal is already a veteran at 20, having competed and won at ISSF World Championships and a few Junior and Senior World Cups. He is at present out of the senior team and would be aiming to make a comeback during the latest Olympic cycle.

At Cairo, Shiva won gold with a final score of 241.8. Although he topped the qualifications, his score of 576-19x will need improvement if he wants to compete at the senior level. Nevertheless, the gold would give him confidence.

Chirag Sharma, who won gold in the 10m AP mixed event, added another medal in the individual event. He won bronze after qualifying with 575-13x.

Prachi Gaikwad – Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Junior

18-year-old Prachi Gaikwad won gold in the tough Women’s 50m Rifle 3P event.

Although she was the only Indian to qualify and with a modest score of 578-26x, she did well in the Finals, competing till the last shot to finish in 1^st place with a score of 354.6, narrowly ahead of Darya Chupris of AIN who scored 354.4.

In the Men’s 50m Rifle 3P competition, India’s Hemant Burman (578-24x) won Silver with 351.7.

Shotgun Events

India had a disappointing tournament when it came to shotgun events. Neither the qualification nor finals scores were of international standard. The only medal came via the Trap Mixed Team Junior event, where Zuhair Khan and Addya Katyal won bronze after scoring 19 points.

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