Ayush Rudraraju wins gold in International Junior Shotgun Cup

Ayush Rudraraju beat Gurnihal Singh Garcha 50-47 for the gold medal in junior men's skeet event.

Ayush Rudraraju (in picture) won the gold medal in the men's junior skeet event.

Ayush Rudraraju beat compatriot Gurnihal Singh Garcha 50-47 for the gold medal in junior men's skeet in the 11th International Junior Shotgun Cup in Orimattila, Finland, on Saturday.

It was a brilliant effort by both the shooters as they took the last two berths in the final with identical scores of 118. Along with Abhay Singh Sekhon (111) the duo also captured the team silver two points behind Czech Republic.

Earlier, Manisha Keer shot the bronze in junior women’s trap. After qualifying with the second best score of 113, Manisha shot 28 in the final and got overtaken by Giala Ragazzini and qualification topper Sofia Littame of Italy.

Kirti Gupta also made the final after winning the shoot-off for the sixth spot, and ended up sixth eventually. Allong with Preeti Rajak (103) as the third shooter, the Indian team managed to get the silver behind Italy.

Vishwa Kundu finished sixth in junior men’s trap, while Manavaditya Rathore lost the shoot off to make the final, and Vivaan Kapoor missed the final by one point. The trio managed to take the bronze behind Italy and Finland.

Areeba Khan did well to make the junior women’s skeet final, but finished sixth. Parinaaz Dhaliwal (104) and Muffaddal Deesawala (100) managed to help Areeba win the team silver behind Italy.