Anantjeet Singh Naruka beat Lari Pesonen of Finland 12-11 in the skeet match for gold in the 7th International junior shotgun cup that concluded in Orimattila, Finland, on Sunday. After having qualified at the bottom with a modest score of 110, following rounds of 21, 22, 21, 25 and 21, Anantjeet kept getting better, as he wriggled his way through to the gold medal match by winning a three-way tie in the shoot-off to challenge the Finn.
Compatriot Angadvir Singh Bajwa, who had topped the qualification with 119 following a series of 23, 24, 24, 24 and 24, won the shoot-off for the bronze medal 6-5 against Matteo Chiti of Italy.
Angadvir and the Italian had shot three each in losing the shoot-off for the gold medal match with Anantjeet who shot 4, after the three were tied on 13 in the semifinals.
Much in contrast to the regular feature of trap and double trap shooters doing well for India, it was only the skeet shooters who made an impact in the junior championship. Even though the third member of the skeet team, Arjun Mann shot 102 and was placed 20th, the Indian team bagged the gold, seven points ahead of Russia.
Jaisal Singh shot the second best score of 128 in the qualification phase of double trap but a below par score of 18 in the semifinals, saw him take the sixth place.
The Indian junior men’s trap and double trap teams managed to get silver, and there was a bronze medal as well, for the Indian ‘B’ team in double trap.
The Indian junior women, managed to win the team bronze medals in both trap and skeet.
The results: Junior men: Trap: 1. Vili Kopra (Fin) 13 (13) 107; 2. Nikita Egorov (Rus) 11 (12) 108; 3. Maxim Kabatskiy (Rus) 12(7) 11 (107); 6. Akash Saharan 5 (107); 11. Kismat Chopra 101; 12. Manavaditya Singh Rathore 99; 13. Lakshay 99; 17. Yuvraj Kumar Mahajan 95; 18. Fahd Sultan 94; 22. Vishwa Kundu 90; 27. Shantanu Gupta 81.
Team: 1. Russia 319; 2. India 307; 3. Finland 302.
Double trap: 1. Danil Zimarev (Rus) 26 (26) 121; 2. Kiril Fokeev (Rus) 23 (25) 131; 3. Viacheslav Yukhimenko (Rus) 28 (23) 127; 6. Jaisal Singh 18 (128); 7. Ahvar Rizvi 109; 9. Vihan Shardul 101; 10. Aditya Vikram Singh 99; 11. Priyanshu Pandey 95; 12. Divye Singh 89.
Team: 1. Russia 371; 2. India 332; 3. India ‘B’ 289.
Skeet: 1. Anantjeet Singh Naruka 12 (13)4 (110); 2. Lari Pesonen (Fin) 11 (15) 111; 3. Angadvir Singh Bajwa 12(6) 13(3) 119; 20. Arjun Mann 102.
Team: 1. India 331; 2. Russia 324. 3. Finland 323.
Junior women: Trap: 1. Iuliia Tugulukova (Rus) 12 (12) 54; 2. Christin Hilmer (Ger) 8 (11) 60; 3. Alessia Lezzi (Ita) 11 (8)2 (68); 6. Kirti Gupta 7 (53); 7. Aliana Paul 52; 11. Soumya Gupta 42; 12. Pragati Dubey 25.
Team: 1. Russia 174; 2. Germany 155; 3. India 130.
Skeet: 1. Alina Fazylzyanova (Rus) 12(2) 13 (60)2; 2. Victoria Ostapets (Rus) 12(1) 13 (61); 3. Chiara Di Marziantionio (Ita) 15 (10) 66; 9. Maheshwari Chauhan 58; 11. Shambhavi Kumari 47; 13. Ananya Chopra 40.
Team: 1. Russia 183; 2. Germany 164; 3. India 145.
