Skeet shooters win first medals

India's junior shooters scaled another high by delivering the country's first set of skeet medals at the ISSF World Championships -- a men's team silver and an individual bronze by Gurnihal Singh Garcha -- here on Tuesday.

Before this edition of the World Championship, India had won all their shotgun medals in the trap and double trap disciplines.

The trio of Gurnihal (119), Anantjeet Singh Naruka (117) and Ayush Rudraraju (119) combined for a score of 355 for a second-place finish in the finals. The three had topped day one of the team qualifying on Monday.

The 19-year-old Gurnihal also made the six-strong individual final, where he shot a score of 46 to claim the individual bronze, the biggest achievement of his international career so far.

Italian Elia Sdruccioli won the gold with a score of 55, while American Nic Moschetti won the silver with 54.

India are placed fourth in the overall medals' tally with seven gold, eight silver and seven bronze medals for a total of 22.

The gold medal in the team event was won by Czech Republic with a score 356, while the bronze went to the Italian team, which shot a score of 354.

In the junior women's 50m rifle 3 position competition, the Indian team signed off 14th with a score of 3383.

Bhakti Khamkar (1132), Shirin Godara (1130) and Ayushi Podder (1121) made up the team and neither of them managed to qualify for the individual finals.

There was no end to the seniors' disappointment with the women's skeet team ending ninth with a score of 319. Rashmi Rathore (108), Maheshwari Chauhan (106) and Ganemat Sekhon (105) could not qualify for the individual finals.