Hriday Hazarika wins gold in world championship

The 17-year-old junior shooter missed the world record by 0.1.

Hriday (second from right) won the gold medal in a shoot-off where he fired a 10.3 which sealed the top prize for him (file photo)- Special Arrangement

Indian junior shooters continued to grab the limelight as Hriday Hazarika crowned himself as the World junior champion in air rifle, while Elavenil Valarivan missed the junior women’s gold by 0.7 point in the 52nd World Shooting Championship in Changwon, Korea, on Friday. With Shreya Agrawal following Elavenil to the bronze medal and winning the team gold along with Elavenil and Manini Kaushik with a junior World record 1880.7, the Indian tally went up to six gold, seven silver and five bronze medals.

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India was second in the medals table with 18 medals, behind host Korea which had eight gold, six silver and seven bronze.

Hriday tied for the gold on 250.1 and won the shoot-off in thrilling fashion 10.3 to 10.2 against Amir Mohammad Nekounam of Iran. The Indian team, however, missed the bronze by 1.4 point.

In junior women’s air rifle, Elavenil was a class act as she topped qualification with 631.0, an average of 10.5 over 60 shots, but a few 9s pulled her down behind Shi Mengyao of China in the 24-shot final.

In the mixed trap event, Seema Tomar and Manavjit Singh Sandhu shot 140 out of 150 and missed the final by one point. The other Indian team of Shreyasi Singh and Lakshay Sheoran placed 16th with a total of 138.

In men’s rifle 3-position event, Indian shooters were unable to match the best. Akhil Sheoran , who had won a World Cup gold this season was 44th with 1167, while Swapnil Kussale (1161) and Sanjeev Rajput (1158) placed 55th and 58th respectively.

In the elimination phase of the women’s rifle 3-position event, Anjum Moudgil shot 1177, pretty close to her world record score of 1180, as she topped her relay. Gaayathri Nithyanandam also made the cut with 1159, while Shreya Saksena missed out with 1153. In women’s 25-metre sports pistol, Manu Bhaker shot the highest total of 294 out of 300 along with three others in the precision stage. Asian Games gold medallist Rahi Sarnobat and the Commonwealth Games gold medallist Heena Sidhu were not at their best as they shot scores of 289 and 284 respectively. The "duelling'' phase on Saturday will be followed by the final for the top-eight.  

The results: Men: 50m rifle 3-position: 1. Tomasz Bartnik (Pol) 460.4 (1182); 2. Petar Gorsa (Cro) 457.4 (1179); 3. Michael Mcphail (US) 446.9 (1177); 44. Akhil Sheoran 1167; 55. Swapnil Kusale 1161; 58. Sanjeev Rajput 1158. Team: 1. Russia 3535 WR; 2. China 3532;  3. Belarus 3526; 11. India 3503. Junior men: 10m air rifle: 1. Hriday Hazarika 250.1 (10.3) 627.3; 2. Amir Mohammad Nekounam (Iri) 250.1 (10.2) 627.5; 3. Grigoril Shamakov (Rus) 228.6 (626.3); 11. Divyansh Singh Panwar 624.9; 24. Arjun Babuta 620.1. Team: 1. China 1876.2 WRJ; 2. Iran 1874.3; 3. Russia 1873.7; 4. India 1872.3. Junior women: 10m air rifle: 1. Shi Mengyao (Chn) 250.5 (627.4); 2. Elavenil Valarivan 249.8 (631.0); 3. Shreya Agrawal 228.4 (628.5); 33. Manini Kaushik 621.2. Team: 1. India 1880.7 WRJ; 2. China 1874.6; 3. Korea 1871.9. Mixed trap team: 1. Slovakia (Zuzana Rehak Stefecekova, Erik Varga) 45 (146)2 EWR; 2. Russia (Ekaterina Rabaya, Alexey Alipov) 40 (146)3 EWR; 3. Britain (Barr, Aaron Heading) 33 (141)7; 12. India-2 (Seema Tomar, Manavjit Singh Sadhu) 140; 16. India (Shreyasi Singh, Lakshay Sheoran) 138.