Indian shooters finish 1-2 in ISSF Junior World Cup

Indian shooter Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil beat compatriot Abhinav Shaw in the gold-match match as India made it a 1-2 in the men's 10 m air rifle competition of the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany on Wednesday. Patil won the gold after going 17-13 up against Abhinav Saw in a tight title-decider.

The Indian duo shot consistently well throughout Wednesday morning, first crossing the eight-man final stage elimination hurdle and then putting up a show in the gold-medal matchup.

On Tuesday, Rudrankksh had also topped the qualification stage with 627.5 points, leading three Indians into the top-eight stage. Paarth Makhija accompanied the duo, holding on to his fifth position in qualifying in the end classifications.

But the morning undoubtedly belonged to Rudrankksh who dominated all three stages of the competition over two days of shooting.

In the final, it was Abhinav who started stronger in the early stages, going up 4-2 after the first three shots.

Rudrankks recovered quickly though, and went past his countryman, keeping his nose ahead till the very end to seal victory. Germnay's Nils Palberg won bronze.

In the junior women's 10m air rifle, India's Ramita after topping qualification on Tuesday with a solid 630.5, also topped the final stage elimination with a score of 261.0.

However, she settled for silver in the end, going down 8-16 to France's Oceanne Muller, a reigning Junior World Champion and Tokyo Olympics finalist, in the gold medal match.
India is presently topping the medal tally as well with one gold and two silver medals.