ISSF Junior World Cup 2022: India top the medal tally

ISSF Junior World Cup 2022: India top the medal tally

India at ISSF Junior World Cup 2022

India finished the ISSF Junior World Cup 2022 held in Suhl, Germany with a whopping 33 medals, including 13 golds, 15 silvers and 5 bronzes. India finished well on top of the overall medal tally with this performance. The next-best country in contrast (Italy) won 11 medals including 4 golds.

India had also topped the 2019 edition of the Junior World Cup (also held in Suhl) with 24 medals including 10 golds. The 2019 tournament however had seen participation from traditional powerhouses China and Russia unlike 2022.

India had already won 4 golds by Day 2 of the 2022 Junior World Cup.

FS Video

Women’s 25m Pistol

Rhythm Sangwan, Manu Bhaker and Naamya Kapoor combined to create a podium sweep for India in the Women’s 25m Pistol event.

Interestingly all three of Rhythm (588), Manu (584) and Naamya (583) qualified in their eventual podium order and all three were comfortably in the top two of their respective elimination relays. Esha Singh (574) and Simranpreet Kaur Brar (571) were also in the top eight but did not progress as there were already three Indians ahead of them.

The finals were a close contest between Rhythm and Manu till the latter missed 4 targets in the penultimate series to hand over the lead to the former. Rhythm won the gold with 31 points compared to Manu’s 26. Naamya fought of the challenge from German Michaela Boesl to ensure a bronze.

In 2019 there were no finalists from India in this event.

Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol

Yan Chesnel from France beat Indians Anish Bhanwala and Vijayveer Sidhu to clinch gold in the Men’s 25m RFP event. Chesnel led virtually from start to finish to end up with a score of 32 compared to Anish’s 28. Vijayveer Sidhu edged out German Markus Lehner to win bronze.

Anish (584), Vijayveer (579) and Adarsh Singh (574) were the top three in qualifications. Adarsh could not qualify for the medal round. Chesnel qualified fourth with 571-22x and topped his elimination relay.

Anish had won the gold in this event back in 2019.

Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions

India’s Sift Kaur Samra beat Norwegian Julie Johannessen to win a rare gold for India in the Women’s 50m Rifle 3P event. Another Indian Ashi Chouksey won bronze.

Ashi (588-38x) and Sift Kaur (588-37x) were the top two in qualifications in a field that also included Olympian Sofia Ceccarello of Italy. Johannessen (409.7) topped the final elimination stage on the strength of good kneeling and standing rounds. Sift Kaur was second with 405.4. Ashi finished third with 405.2.

In the gold medal match Sift Kaur defeated Johannessen by a score of 17-8.

India had no finalists in this event in 2019.

Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions

Italian Danilo Dennis Sollazzo beat Indian debutante Shivam Dabas by a score of 17-15 in a close gold medal match. In the elimination relay, Frenchman Nathan Bailly (398.4) edged out India’s Pankaj Mukheja (398.3) by 0.1 points to clinch bronze.

Bailly had topped qualifications with 585 while Pankaj was second with 584. Shivam had qualified in fourth place with 582 while Sollazzo was sixth with 580.

Sollazzo topped with 399.6 in the elimination relay whereas Shivam was second with 398.8.

India’s Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar had won the gold back in 2019.

Men’s 25m Pistol

Shiva Narwal (583-18x), Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu (583-17x) and Sameer (582-11x) got yet another podium sweep for India in the non-Olympic Men’s 25m Pistol competition.

India had won no medals in this event in 2019.

Team Events

10m Air Rifle Men’s Team

The Indian team of Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil, Paarth Makhija and Maddineni Umamahesh won gold after defeating Spain (Jesus Oviedo, Adrian Diaz, Jorge Estevez) by a score of 16-8. Norway won bronze after defeating Italy 16-14.

Rudrankksh had won the individual gold in this event earlier in the tournament.

10m Air Rifle Women’s Team

The Indian team of Arya Borse, Zeena Khitta and Ramita defeated South Korea (An Yeeun, Eunji Kwon and Jeongin Jang) by a score of 17-9 in the gold medal match. Italy defeated Poland 16-10 in the bronze match.

Ramita had won the individual silver earlier in the tournament.

10m Air Pistol Men’s Team

India (Saurabh Chaudhary, Shiva Narwal, Sarabjot Singh) beat Uzbekistan (Mukhammad Kamalov, Veniamin Nikitin, Umidbek Komolbekov) by a score of 17-9 in the gold medal match. Italy beat Germany 16-12 in the bronze match.

Shiva and Sarabjot had won gold and silver respectively in the individual event. Kamalov had won bronze.

10m Air Pistol Women’s Team

India (Manu Bhaker, Palak, Esha Singh) won gold by beating Georgia (Salome Prodiashvili, Mariam Abramishvli, Mariami Prodiashvili) by a score of 16-8. Germany beat Great Britain 17-15 in the bronze medal match.

Palak and Manu had won gold and silver respectively in the individual event.

Women’s 25m Pistol Team

Team India (Manu Bhaker, Rhythm Sangwan and Esha Singh), high on confidence after the individual podium sweep, beat Germany (Michaela Boesl, Mia Fuchs, Vanessa Seeger) by a convincing scoreline of 16-2 in the gold medal match.

Italy beat Norway 17-3 in the bronze medal match.

Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Team

Only three nations competed in this event. India (Anish, Vijayveer, Sameer) beat Thailand (Thanawi Kruawongkaew, Wachiravit Phuangthong, Waster Warakorn Kongklang) by a score of 17-1 in the gold match. Norway won bronze.

25m Rapid Fire Pistol Mixed Team

Only three nations and six teams competed. India 1 (Simranpreet Kaur Brar and Vijayveer Sidhu) beat India 2 (Anish and Tejaswani) by a score of 17-9 in the gold medal match. Norway beat Thailand in the bronze match.

50m Rifle 3 Positions Men’s Team

The Italian team of Michele Bernardi, Danilo Dennis Sollazzo and Edoardo Bonazzi beat the Indian team of Pankaj Mukheja, Shivam Dabas and Avinash Yadav by a score of 16-12 in the gold medal match. Germany beat Poland 17-13 in the bronze match.

50m Rifle 3 Positions Women’s Team

The Indian team of Nischal, Ashi Chouksey and Sift Kaur Samra won bronze after beating Czech Republic 16-10 in the bronze medal match.

Germany defeated Poland in the gold medal match.

50m Rifle 3 Positions Mixed Team

Poland (Michal Chojnowski and Julia Ewa Piotrowska) beat India (Pankaj Mukheja and Sift Kaur Samra) by a score of 16-12 in the gold medal match. Piotrowska had also won gold in the 10m AR Mixed Team event.

Norway defeated Italy 16-8 in the bronze match.

50m Rifle Prone Mixed Team

Poland (Maja Magdalena Gawenda and Wikto Sajdak) defeated India (Sift Kaur Samra and Surya Pratap Singh) 17-15 in the gold medal match. The other Polish team beat Norway in the bronze medal match.

Men’s Trap Team

Team USA (Lance Patrick Thompson, Emilio Carvalho, Matthew Christian Kutz) beat India (Arya Vansh Tyagi, Shardul Vihan, Vivaan Kapoor) 6-4 in the gold medal match. Italy beat Australia in the bronze match.

Women’s Trap Team

Italy (Marika Patera, Sofia Gori, Sofia Littame) defeated India (Preeti Rajak, Bhavya Tripathi, Sabeera Haris) 6-2 in the gold medal match. Australia beat USA in the bronze match.

Women’s Skeet Team

India (Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Areeba Khan, Darshana Rathore) beat Germany 6-0 in the bronze medal match. Great Britain beat Slovakia in the gold medal match.

India won just the three medals from shotgun, all from non-Olympic team events. It was a similar story back in 2019.