October 1, 2025

New Delhi witnessed a sparkling day for Indian shooters at the ISSF Junior World Cup on Monday. The stars? India scooped seven out of nine medals across three shooting events, turning heads and flashing smiles! The biggest fireworks came from the girls’ 10m air rifle final — a dazzling clean sweep! Ojasvi Thakur, just 17 years old from Kangda, Himachal Pradesh, fired her way to a glorious gold with a fantastic 252.7 score. Not far behind were Hrudya Shri Kondur and Shambhavi Kshirsagar, who clinched silver and bronze, turning the podium into an Indian fiesta with scores of 250.2 and 229.4. “I had won silver at my first junior World Cup earlier this year, so winning gold today was good. I shot better today and I am happy about it,” Ojasvi said cheerfully, trained under the expert guidance of former India shooter and coach Suma Shirur. On the men’s side in 10m air rifle, the battle was fierce. Remarkably, Himanshu, a wrestler-turned-shooter from Jind, Haryana, snatched the gold with a razor-thin margin—250.9 points, just a hair ahead of Dmitrii Pimenov, competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN), who took silver with 249.9. Meanwhile, Abhinav Shaw grabbed the bronze with 228.4 but seemed hungry for more. However, not all glitters were gold. In the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol, India’s hope Mukesh Nelavalli lost the gold in a nail-biting tiebreaker against Aleksandr Kovalev (AIN). The shoot-off told the tale: Aleksandr scored 3 hits out of 5, while Mukesh managed just one. Suraj Sharma made it a bronze day with his steady 21 score. All in all, India’s junior shooters lit up the range in New Delhi, proving the future of shooting sports here is incredibly bright and bursting with talent!

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Tags: Issf junior world cup, 10m air rifle, Indian shooters, Ojasvi thakur, Gold medal, Shooting sport,