Shri Nivetha, Esha, Ruchita win gold in women's 10m air pistol

The Indian trio of Shri Nivetha, Esha Singh and Ruchita Vinerkar combined to win the gold medal in the women's 10m air pistol team event of the ISSF World Cup, in Cairo, on Wednesday.

The Indians shot 16 in the gold medal contest to finish on the podium for the country's third medal, and second gold, in the year's first World Cup. India led the standings with three medals -- two gold and a silver.

Germany's Andrea Katharina Heckner, Sandra Reitz and Carina Wimmer settled for the silver medal after managing 6 in the fight for the top prize.

The three Indian women had topped the qualification stage 2 with a total score of 574 on their way to the gold medal match.

Behind the Indian women were Heckner, Reitz and Wimmer, with 571.

Esha, Shri Nivetha and Ruchita had also topped qualification stage 1 with a total score of 856.

Earlier in the day, Olympian Saurabh Chaudhary, Gaurav Rana and Uchaganve Kedarling Balakrishna missed out on a bronze medal in the men's 10m air pistol team competition.

In the bronze medal match, the Indian pistol team finished with a total of 6 to finish at fourth place, behind Italy's Torracchi Alessio, Monna Paolo and Tesconi Luca, who aggregated 16.

In the Qualification Stage 2, the Indians totalled 581, ahead of their Italian counterparts (577).

In the first qualification, the Indians aggregated 765.

Before that, the Indian team of Rudrankkash Balasaheb Patil, Divyansh Singh Panwar and Srinjoy Dutta failed to secure a place in the bronze medal contest by a point in the men's 10m air rifle team event.

The Indian men's rifle team aggregated 624.1, only a point less than Czech Republic's Ales Entrichel, Jiri Privratsky and Filip Nepejchel's total score of 624.2.

The Czechs went on to win the bronze medal ahead of Austria.

The Indian team of Shreya Agarwal, Ayushi Gupta and Rajshree Sancheti finished seventh in the qualification stage 2 of women's 10m air rifle team event with a total score of 625.0. 

ASBC Asian Youth & Junior Boxing Championships: Krrish Pal registers win in 1st round

Indian boxer Krrish Pal opened the country's campaign on a winning note at the 2022 ASBC Asian Youth & Junior Boxing Championships, beating Uzbekistan's Sobirjon Tastanov in the first round of 46kg junior boys' category in Amman, Jordan on Wednesday.

The Chandigarh boxer, who was adjudged the Most Promising Boxer at the last Junior Nationals, notched up a 4-1 win in a hard-fought contest over his Uzbek rival.

He will now square off against Robert Malu of Philippines in the next round of the prestigious tournament, where both the age groups of men and women, youth and junior, are being played together.

Later on Wednesday, two more Indian boxers will begin their campaigns in the junior boys' section.

While Ravi Saini will take on United Arab Emirates' Alsedrani Ali Bader in the 48kg, John Lapung will take on Kyrgyzstan's Iasynov Nizamedin in the 52kg opening round.

A 50-member Indian contingent, with both junior and youth squads comprising 25 boxers each, are taking part at the ongoing Asian Youth & Junior Championships.

The continental showpiece will witness a strong competition in the presence of 352 boxers from 21 countries, including India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The finals will be played on March 13 and 14.

In the last edition of the ASBC Asian Youth and Junior Boxing championships held in Dubai in 2021, the Indian contingent concluded their campaign with 39 medals, including 14 golds.