2024 ISSF Junior World Championships: Best Indian Olympic event performances
Take a look at the key takeaways from Indian campaign at the 2024 ISSF Junior World Championships.
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Divanshi and Parth (Image via SAI)
India topped the medal table at the 2024 ISSF Junior World Championships held in Lima, Peru with 24 medals including 13 Golds, 3 Silvers, and 8 Bronzes. While this may look impressive, it must be remembered that many of these medals were won in Team and non-Olympic events.
Since it is the Olympic events that carry more prestige and attract better competition from other countries, it is better for Indian sports administrators and fans to give more weightage to these events to assess the depth of Indian shooting at this early stage of the new Olympic cycle.
Olympic Rifle Events
10m Air Rifle
Parth Rakesh Mane won Gold in Men’s 10m AR Junior, continuing India’s 18-year-old tradition of medal-winning success in this event.
Parth, who qualified with a score of 627.7, defeated Paris 2024 silver medalist Victor Lindgren and Asian Junior Champion Liwanlin Huang on the way to becoming the new Junior World Champion with a Final score of 250.7.
Ajay Malik (628.8) and Abhinav Shaw (627.0) were the other Indians who qualified and finished 5th and 7th respectively.
In Women’s 10m AR Junior, none of the three qualifying Indians Gautami Bhanot (634.7), Shambhavi Shravan Kshirsagar (632.6), and Ojasvi Thakur (631.4) could finish on the podium though their Qualification scores were obviously impressive amidst a field that boasted Olympic finalist Oceanne Muller and saw a new Qualification Junior World Record set by Wang Zifei (635.7).
In the AR Mixed Junior event, India 1 (Gautami Bhanot, Ajay Malik) won the Bronze by defeating Croatia 17-9. The Indians qualified for the Bronze match with a score of 628.9, well behind the 630+ scores set by China and France for the Gold medal match. India 2 (Shambhavi, Abhinav) finished 6th with 628.1.
50m Rifle 3 Positions
Khushi won Bronze for India in Women’s 50m Rifle 3P Junior thanks to a strong Standing round that propelled her to the podium position after a middling Kneeling and Prone series. In particular, it was a 10.7 and 10.4 in her 42nd and 43rd shots that got her the medal.
Shooting well in crunch situations has often been a problem for Indians and Khushi with a hard-fought medal might be someone to watch out for if she improves in Kneeling and Prone.
Qualifications weren’t easy for Khushi either as she qualified 7th with 585-29x based on more inner-10s. Another Indian Anushka Thokur finished 11th with 585-26x and missed out despite a good Standing round.
In Men’s 50m 3P Junior, Shourya Saini (583-29x) was the lone Indian qualifier and finished 7th due to a poor Prone round. Another Indian Vedant Nitin Waghmare narrowly missed out on qualifying after finishing 9th with 583-24x.
Olympic Pistol Events
Women’s 25m Pistol
India’s Divanshi won Gold in the Women’s 25m Pistol Junior event after a Final score of 35. Divanshi mounted a strong comeback after a poor start. She was nearly flawless in the last 5 series after being 4th after the first 5. That, coinciding with a poor last 5 round performance by early leader Cristina Magnani, ensured Divanshi got to be the new Junior World Champion.
The Qualification round wasn’t particularly high-scoring, and Divanshi, who was 5th with 577-19x, will have to improve in this aspect to make an impact at the senior level.
10m Air Pistol
India’s Kanak won Bronze in the Women’s 10m AP Junior competition. Kanak was in Silver medal position in the early stages but a few 9s and a late surge by Slovenian Manja Slak led to her finishing 3rd. Another Indian Kanishka Dagar also qualified but was the first to be eliminated.
It was a low-scoring Qualification round and like Divanshi, both Kanak (573-13x) and Kanishka (573-20x) will have to better their scores to be competitive at higher levels.
In the Mixed Team event, India 2 (Lakshita, Parmod) defeated India 1 (Kanishka Dagar, Mukesh Nelavalli) by a score of 16-8 in an all-Indian Bronze medal match,
Lakshita and Parmod finished 3rd in Qualification with 575-13x, a point behind the 2nd placed German team’s 576-14x. Kanishka and Mukesh scored 573-14x.
In a bizarre incident in Men’s 10m AP Junior, India’s Umesh Choudhary lost out on a potential medal after being penalized 2 points for ‘late reporting to the preparation area’ as per the ISSF Rule 6.17.1.3.
Umesh had done well in qualifications with 580-14x and it is baffling why the shooter and his coaches would make such basic errors before the Final of a Junior World Championship. Umesh ended up 6th. Another Indian Pradhyumn Singh (578-19x) also qualified but was the first to be eliminated.
Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol
Neither of the two Indian qualifiers Rajwardhan Patil (579-17x) or Mukesh Nelavalli (579-15x) could finish on the podium of the Men’s 25m RFP Junior event. The former finished 4th with 17 points while the latter was 5th with 10 points.
Olympic Shotgun events
India does not have a great track record in Olympic Shotgun and most of the Indian performances at the 2024 World Juniors were in line with the nation’s history in this discipline.
The only exception was Aashima Ahlawat in Women’s Trap who qualified 5th with a score of 113 and finished 4th in the finals.
Mansi Raghuvanshi in Women’s Skeet came close to qualifying by finishing 8th after shooting 109. All of the other Indian competitors in Trap and Skeet were well away from the qualifying scores.
Conclusion
Out of the 24 medals including 13 Golds won by India at the 2024 World Junior Championships, only 6 medals including 2 Golds were won in Olympic events.
1 Gold and 2 Bronzes were won in Rifle and Pistol each while no medal was won in Shotgun. In general, the scores were better in Rifle than Pistol though the latter should improve as the shooters mature.
The coaches and federation should ideally identify and nurture those shooters who are likely to be medal contenders for the 2028 Olympics and not unnecessarily hype Team and non-Olympic medals if India are to improve the 2024 Olympic performance in shooting.
Overall it was a decent tournament for India, one that could have been better, and nowhere as spectacular as the medal tally suggests.
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Niyati
(168 Articles Published)