ISSF WC: Garcha and junior skeet team bag medals

The two medals on Tuesday took India’s tally to 22, including seven gold and eight silver, for the fourth spot in the medals table behind China, Russia and Korea.

Gurnihal Singh Garcha (right) bags bronze at World Championship in junior men's skeet.

Gurnihal Singh Garcha shot the final on par with the best but had to settle for junior men’s bronze as he had qualified in the sixth place in the 52nd World Shooting Championship in Changwon, Korea, on Tuesday.

The 19-year-old Gurnihal was tied with the eventual champion Elia Sdruccioli of Italy and the silver medallist Nic Moschetti of the US on 46 in the final, but had to bow out, owing to the rules that stress the qualification position, in case of a tie, rather than a shoot-off.

Gurnihal also helped the Indian team to the silver medal along with Ayush Rudraraju (119) who had tied for the sixth spot in qualification but placed seventh as he lost the shoot-off, and Anant Jeet Singh Naruka (117).

Read: Junior men's skeet team tops qualifying

The two medals took India’s tally to 22, including seven gold and eight silver, for the fourth spot in the medals table behind China, Russia and Korea.

In women’s skeet, Rashmmi Rathore (108), Maheshwari Chauhan (106) and Gannemat Sekhon (108) were unable to make an impact as they placed 41st, 49th and 50th respectively.

The US swept all the three medals through Caitlin Connor, Kimberly Rhode and Amber English, but only the first two were eligible to win the Olympic quota places, as a country can have a maximum of two quotas per event. The fourth placed Danka Bartekova of Slovakia and the fifth placed Natalia Vinogradova collected the other two Olympic quota places from the event.

The World Championship will continue for three more days with men’s skeet, centre fire  pistol and standard pistol events, among others.

The results:

Women:

Skeet: 1. Caitlin Connor (US) 57 (118)3; 2. Kimberly Rhode (US) 56 (118)4; 3. Amber English (US) 46 (119)2; 41. Rashmmi Rathore 108; 49. Maheshwari Chauhan 106; 50. Ganemat Sekhon 108.

Team: 1. US 355 WR; 2. Italy 347; 3. Cyprus 345; 9. India 319.

Junior men:

Skeet: 1. Elia Sdruccioli (Ita) 55 (121)9; 2. Nic Moschetti (US) 54 (121)10; 3. Gurnihal Singh Garcha 46 (119)3; 7. Ayush Rudraraju 119(2); 13. Anant Jeet Singh Naruka 117.

Team: 1. Czech Republic 356; 2. India 355; 3. Italy 354.

Junior women:

50m rifle 3-position: 1. Xu Hong (Chn) 456.6 (1165); 2. Jade Bordet (FRA) 455.5 (1160); 3. Maria Ivanova (Rus) 443.2 (1160); 46. Bhakti Bhaskar Khamkar 1132; 49. Shirin Godara 1130; 55. Ayushi Podder 1121.

Team: 1. China 3474; 2. US 3461; 3. Russia 3458; 14. India 3383.