Hriday Hazarika wins gold in Junior World Cup

The Indian domination in air events continued as Hriday Hazarika and Saurabh Chaudhary won the junior men’s air rifle and air pistol gold medals respectively in the Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany.

Hriday Hazarika after winning the Junior men's air rifle gold in the Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany.

The Indian domination in air events continued as Hriday Hazarika and Saurabh Chaudhary won the junior men’s air rifle and air pistol gold medals respectively in the Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany.

After the phenomenal score of Elavenil Valarivan in winning the junior women’s air rifle gold, it was literally a gold rush for India as it stayed on top of the medals table with eight gold, a silver and five bronze medals.

China was in the second place with three gold, five silver and three bronze, ahead of Italy which had two gold, three silver and five bronze.

Saurabh overcame a slow start when he trailed the leader by 2.6 points after 10 shots, to eventually beat him with a 4.1 point margin for the junior men’s air pistol gold. Anmol also made the final but missed a medal by 0.3 point, and placed fourth.

The Indian team won the gold, by equalling the Junior world record of 1730, as it beat China by 10 points.

Hriday Hazarika had a thrilling victory by a 0.3 point margin over Maximilian Ulbrich of Germany after he had topped qualification with 627.1. Hriday had a one-point lead before the last two shots and managed to hold his lead despite a last shot of 9.9. There was a team gold as well for India, as it pipped Russia by 1.9 point.

In sports pistol, India won the junior men’s team gold but there was only an individual bronze by Udhayveer Sidhu. In junior women’s sports pistol, Devanshi Rana and Manu Bhaker had qualified among the top three but could not be at their best in the final for which they had reported late.

The results Junior men: 10m air rifle: 1. Hriday Hazarika 248.7 (627.1); 2. Maximilian Ulbrich (Ger) 248.4 (626.4); 3. Fu Gangfeng (Chn) 226.9 (626.3); 7. Divyansh Panwar 141.8 (625.9); 19. Shahu Tushar Mane 622.3; 79. Sunmoon Singh Brar 607.8. Team: 1. India 1875.3; 2. Russia 1873.4; 3. China 1870.8. 10m air pistol: 1. Saurabh Chaudhary 243.7 (WRJ 583); 2. Lim Hojin (Kor) 239.6 (584); 3. Wang Zhehao (Chn) 218.7 (575); 4. Anmol 199.6 (583); 9. Arjun Singh Cheema 574; 14. Gaurav Rana 573; 16. Udhayveer Sidhu 572; 34. Abhishek Arya 567 . Team: 1. India 1730 (EWRJ); 2. China 1720; 3. India-B 1719. 25m sports pistol: 1. Ernests Erbs (Lat) 586; 2. Abdul-Aziz Kurozi (Blr) 585(23x); 3. Udhayveer Sidhu 585(15x); 4. Vijayveer Sidhu 583; 10. Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu 579; 17. Adarsh Singh 576; 19. Anhad Jawanda 575; 34. Harshawwardhan Yadav 568. Team: 1. India 1747 (WRJ); 2. France 1729; 3. Ukraine 1726; 5. India-B 1719. Junior women: 25m sports pistol: 1. Camille Jedrzejewski (Fra) 35 (577); 2. Qiu Danhong (Chn) 34 (578); 3. Miroslava Mincheva (Bul) 25 (576); 5. Manu Bhaker 19 (579); 8. Devanshi Rana 5 (582; 16. Arunima Gaur 570; 33. Tanu Rawal 562; 54. Mahima Turhi Agrawal 550; 57. Muskan 547. Team: 1. China 1713; 2. China-B 1708; 3. Korea 1706; 6. India 1696; 7. India-B 1694.